Aka Hea
by Missy the Cat
Summary: Since the first time they met, Sasuke has cared for Karin and now enemies and mysterious things started appearing. Will he be enough to protect her?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1.

Please review.

The story title ' _Aka Hea'_ means 'Red hair' in japanese.

* * *

Morning.

A red headed woman walked into a room. In it was a small bed laid a sleeping little girl who had short crimson red hair that reached her chin, the right side of it was spiky while the left side was straight, and fair skin. The woman quietly walked over to the bed gently shook the child awake.

"Wake up, Karin." she said, softly.

The little girl groaned before she slowly opened her eyes before looking at the woman that stood close to her.

"Mommy?" Karin asked sleepily, rubbing her crimson red eyes with her left hand. She was in her long dark blue night gown that reached below her knees and had a 3 square buttons on the front side of it.

"It's time to wake up we have somewhere special to go to." the woman smiled softly.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Karin said, before getting up.

Karin slowly removed her blue blanket from her body, she got her brown glasses from her dresser then put them on. Her mother took a few steps backwards to give her daughter some space.

"We're going to visit the Uchiha clan today." the woman said, looking at her daughter. "Your going to get dressed so me, you, and your father can go soon."

"Okay, Mommy." Karin said, smiling up at her.

* * *

Later that day.

Karin, in her usual outfit a light green short sleeved shirt that had the Uzumaki crest with a purple v neck collar and long brown pants, ran to her kitchen and stopped when she saw her father sitting at the table.

"Daddy!" Karin yelled running up to him, jumping in his arms.

"It's so nice to see you, Karin." he said hugging her.

Karin's father had dark red hair that is short and spiky red eyes, was in his usual outfit, a wearing a black shirt with long dark brown pants, and coat that had the Uzumaki crest on the back, and wearing black glasses.

Karin's mother came in a few seconds later, she had straight short bright red hair that reached her chin, her eyes were blue, wearing her usual outfit, a cream colored long shirt, a blue skirt that reached below her knees, and a lavender cloth that was wrapped around her neck.

"I see your excited this morning." Karin's mother said, smiling.

"Well, I guess she really wants to go to the Uchiha compound today, Uzume." Karin's father said.

"Well, Ryo she hasn't seen them in years." Uzume said, walking over to them.

"Daddy, why are we going?" Karin asked him.

"Me and your mother have been friends with them for years. you've met them when you were a just a baby." Ryo said. "But you had to stay in the Uzumaki compound until you were old enough, but now your five years and we think you should visit other places.

Ryo was the leader of the Uzumaki clan, he was kind but can be fierce when wanted to protect the people he cared about. The Uchiha clan and the Uzumaki clan have been allies since the day they were introduced to one other by the Senju clan, who were close related to the Uzumaki clan but kinda the ally to the Uchiha, they have been helping each other and fighting side by side. Unlike the Senju clan, the Uchihas trust the Uzumakis completely and have a very strong bond.

Ryo and Uzume have been friends with the leader of the Uchiha clan, Fugaku and his wife, Mikoto since they were children. And now wanted to their children to meet.

"Are you ready to go, sweetie?" Uzume asked.

"Yes, Mommy." Karin said, turning towards her mother, smiling.

* * *

The Uzumaki family were walking towards the Uchiha clan as they were accompanied by 3 guards. As they were almost to the gates, Karin, who was standing next to her mother, holding on to her right hand, could sense many powerful chakras in the area.

"Mommy why do I sense so many powerful chakras everywhere." Karin said looking up at her mother.

"That's because the Uchiha are very skilled people. They are known for many things and fighting is one of them. Barely any clans can defeat them." Uzume said to her.

"Oh." Karin said astonished. _That clan is amazing."_

When they arrived at the gate, they were greeted by 2 Uchiha male guards. One had tan skin color, ash grey hair, eyes were squinted, wearing a high collared purple shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, and black sandals, also wearing black arm guards, bandages around his legs and a light colored obi that a dark line running through it. He looked to be around in his late 30's. While the other one had light brown skin, shoulder length dull black hair, onyx black eyes, a blue circular dot on his forehead, wearing a black high collared shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, and long dark brown pants. He looked to be around in his mid-teens.

"Welcome Lord Ryo and Lady Uzume." the ash grey haired one greeted.

"It's so nice to see you again Yashiro and you too, Tekka." Uzume said, smiling.

"Lord Fugaku and Lady Mikoto are waiting for you in the palace." Yashiro before he and Tekka opened the large wooden gates.

When the gates were fully opened, the family along with their guards walked in. Karin latched on tightly to her mother's arm as they walked towards a medium sized wooden brown palace. Karin looked around village seeing a lot of people who had on high collared shirts with the Uchiha crest on the back. Many people were waving and smiling as they past by them. Ryo told their guards they can visit their friends for a while, so they said their goodbyes before leaving. Karin looked forward again to sensed 2 chakras coming outside the palace to see a man and a woman, they stopped right in front of them.

Karin stared curiously at them, the man had a brown skin color, onyx black eyes, short brown hair that reached his shoulders, wearing his usual outfit a dark green kimono with light green linings that had dark green dots on them also the Uchiha crest on the back, grey pants, and brown sandals. The woman standing next to him on his left had fair skin, long black hair that reached her waist with bangs hanging on either side of her face roughly framing her cheeks and eyes wearing a simple dark purple blouse with the Uchiha crest on the back, a red plum skirt, and blue sandals.

"Hello, Ryo and Uzume, it's so wonderful to see you again." the woman greeted smiling.

"You two as well." Ryo greeted back, smiling. "Fugaku and Mikoto."

Mikoto looked down to see Karin. "It's so nice to see you as well, Karin." she said, leaning down a little.

Karin quickly hid behind her mother's back

"Karin is really shy around most people she comes across, but don't worry I'm sure she'll warm up to you again." Uzume said.

Mikoto stood up straight up. "I know your right. So do you want to see my sons."

"Yes, I would love to see them again, it's been a while since we've seen them." Uzume said.

Mikoto turned her head around a little to see the palace and softly yelled. "Itachi, Sasuke, please come out!"

Karin peeked out a little from her to sense 2 chakras approaching them from the inside, one of the shoji doors opened up to reveal 2 boys. She stared curiously at them as they walked towards Fugaku and Mikoto.

"What is it, Mother?" the older boy asked.

"Itachi. Sasuke. Ryo and Uzume came to visit and they've brought their daughter, Karin with them just like when you were younger." Mikoto said to him.

The older boy turned to Ryo and Uzume then a few seconds later stared down at Karin, who hid a little behind her mother again.

Karin stared at the older boy carefully. He had black hair that looked grey and reached his neck, onyx black eyes, on his face had 2 tear troughs beside his nose, fair skin, wearing his usual outfit a high collared light blue short sleeved shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, long dark grey pants, and dark blue sandals.

"Karin, this is Itachi, he is 9 years old." Mikoto said, directing her left hand at him.

"It's nice to meet you again." Itachi greeted.

"And the next to him is my other son, Sasuke, he's 5 years years old just like but he's a 5 months older than you." Mikoto said.

Karin turned her attention to Sasuke. He had fair skin, black spiky hair some were sticking up in the back and bangs that framed both sides of his cheeks and eyes just like his mother but shorter, wearing his usual outfit a greyish blue high collared short sleeved shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, long grey pants, and blue sandals.

Karin noticed that Sasuke was staring at her curiously, which confused her a lot.

"H-hello." Sasuke said to her, smiling softly.

She saw that he was blushing a little, before looking down, confusing her even more.

"Itachi, can you and Sasuke show Karin around while me and your father discuss something with Ryo and Uzume?" Mikoto asked, looking down at him

"Yes, Mother." Itachi said.

Karin saw Sasuke walking over to her, which she retreated back behind her mother again, making him stop half way to her causing to him to make a sad and confused face. Karin let go of her mother she turned in her direction then crouched down in front of her.

Uzume put her hands on her daughter's shoulders. "Karin, go and explore with Itachi and Sasuke, okay."

"But I want to stay with you and Daddy." Karin said, looking up at her sadly.

"Me and your Daddy have to discuss many things Fugaku and Mikoto, we'll play later okay." Uzume said softly.

"I don't wanna leave you and Daddy's side." Karin said sadly.

"Please Karin, do it for us." Uzume said, smiling.

Karin turned her head to look at Itachi and Sasuke then back at her mother. "Okay, Mommy."

"That's a good girl." Uzume said hugging her then pulled away. "Now go on." she said, pushing a little towards Itachi and Sasuke.

Karin looked back at her mother, who was encouraging her to walk forward, then she turned back putting her hands together near her chest seeing that Sasuke and Itachi were staring at her. She looked down shyly at her feet.

"Um do you want to see our backyard?" Sasuke said, a little nervous. "Or maybe practice with our shuriken?"

 _"Mommy and Daddy never let me play with shuriken so how do they get to practice with them?"_ Karin thought, confused.

She turned her head to her mother and she nodded. "It's okay, just be careful, sweetie." her mother said. Karin looked back at them.

"Follow us we'll show you where we practice." Itachi said to her.

Itachi walked away towards their backyard while Sasuke still stared at her, making her a little nervous again. Karin then walked slowly, following after Itachi with Sasuke right by her side, she took one glance at her mother and father before walking some more.

Uzume watched as their children disappeared from their view and she sensed them a little away from them.

"It feels like yesterday when they were babies when they first met." Uzume said.

"Yes, it does." Mikoto said.

* * *

 _Flashback._

 _The Uzumaki family were standing inside the living room of the Uchiha palace, patiently waiting the Uchiha family. Ryo, wearing an orange shirt with the Uzumaki crest and long black pants, and orange sandals, was standing next to his wife, Uzume, who was wearing a mahogany dress with the Uzumaki crest and black sandals, who was holding and playing with their newborn daughter, Karin, who was wearing a tiny pink romper suit with the Uzumaki symbol on the back and wrapped up in a lavender blanket._

 _Uzume suddenly sensed someone coming into the living room from one one of the hall, knowing who it was._

 _"I'm sorry we have to make you wake, my husband and sons will be here shortly." Mikoto said smiling, entering the living room._

 _Mikoto was wearing a brown blouse and dark purple skirt, her bangs reaching her neck._

 _"It's not problem." Ryo said, smiling._

 _"This must be Karin." Mikoto said, walking to Uzume. "She's so cute, I can't wait for Sasuke to meet her." she softly rubbed Karin's head making her nuzzle into her._

 _"She really likes you already." Uzume said, smiling. "But won't Sasuke be angry that Karin's around."_

 _"Don't worry, I'm sure are Sasuke will like her immediately." Mikoto said._

 _Uzume started to sense 3 more chakras coming from the same direction Mikoto came out of recently. It revealed Fugaku, wearing his usual outfit, Itachi, wearing a dark grey high collared sleeveless shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back and light grey shorts, having his hair stop below his chin, holding in his arms Sasuke, having his father's skin color, bangs covering his face and some of his hair on the back sticking up, wearing light blue long sleeved shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back and long dark blue pants. Sasuke was looking at his older brother, clutching his shirt._

 _"I see Sasuke is still attached to Itachi." Ryo said._

 _"Itachi, please come bring Sasuke over here." Mikoto said._

 _Itachi walked to his mother, Uzume, and Ryo then stopped near them. He looked down as he heard Sasuke cooing in his arms, he looked into the direction his little was staring at, then it surprised him. Sasuke staring at Karin.  
_

 _"Cute, our little Sasuke really wants to meet your baby Karin." Mikoto said._

 _Mikoto walked over to the couch and grabbed a green blanket with blue poke dots then laid it on the floor. Uzume walked over to where Mikoto was and crouched down before unwrapping Karin from her blanket then carefully placed her on her back. Karin whimpered a little, starting to miss being in her mother's arms._

 _"Itachi, can you bring Sasuke over here?" Mikoto said._

 _Itachi walked over to his mother again and stopped right in front of her. Mikoto took Sasuke from his arms and placed Sasuke on the blanket a few inches away from Karin. The infants stared at each other both of them curious of one another, but Sasuke was more curious of her than Karin was of him, she had her hands close to her chest. Sasuke quickly crawled over to Karin and laid down next to her, then hugged her lovingly, putting his head to her head. Karin turned her head to the left, confused at his affection towards her._

 _"Aww, that's so cute." Mikoto said, looking at the display. "He really likes her."_

 _"But she's confused by that." Ryo said, standing over them now._

 _"Ryo, our little Karin is blushing." Uzume said._

 _Uzume grabbed Karin and tried to pull her up only for Sasuke to smack her hand away and pulled Karin into him closer, glaring at Uzume. Uzume was shocked by this and decided to back off._

 _Mikoto and Ryo laughed a little at what just happened._

 _"Sasuke is already protective of her." Mikoto said. "Their perfect for each other."_

 _Later it was becoming night time and the Uzumaki family had to leave, Sasuke still wouldn't let go of Karin even his brother Itachi tried to grab him, he smacked his hand away just like he did Uzume which surprised everyone because Sasuke never done that to Itachi before. They waited until Sasuke and Karin to fall asleep before taking Karin out of his arms._

* * *

 _"This brings back memories."_ Uzume thought, smiling.

"Uzume." a voice said.

Uzume pulled out of her thoughts and turned to her left to see Ryo.

"We have to go inside to talk." Ryo said.

"Yes, of course." Uzume.

Mikoto and Fugaku went in first then Ryo and Uzume before Ryo slid one of the shoji doors closed.

* * *

Sasuke's POV.

Just as he and his older brother, Itachi were called by their mother, they walked outside to see what was wrong. As they were done putting on their sandals, Itachi opened one of the shoji doors then stepped outside with Sasuke behind him.

 _"I wonder why mother called us out here?"_ Sasuke thought.

As they made it their parents, Sasuke noticed a red haired man with glasses and woman facing their parents.

 _"They must be mother and father's friends that come from the Uzumaki clan."_ Sasuke thought, staring at them.

But what caught Sasuke's attention the most the crimson red haired girl with glasses that was hiding behind the woman, she looked to be his age, looking shy at them.

"What is it, Mother?" Itachi asked.

"Itachi. Sasuke. Ryo and Uzume came to visit and they've brought their daughter, Karin with them just like when you were younger." Sasuke heard his mother say.

Sasuke stared curiously at Karin. _"She's really pretty and her name is great and special."_ Sasuke thought.

When his mother introduced him to Karin, Sasuke now noticed that Karin was staring at him confused, making him look down blushing.

"Itachi, can you and Sasuke show Karin around while me and your father discuss something with Ryo and Uzume?" their mother asked.

"Yes, mother." he heard his big brother said.

Sasuke walked over to Karin smiling, but stopped when she hid behind her mother again, causing him to stop where he was. _"She doesn't like me."_ he thought sadly.

He saw Karin's mother kneel down to their level and turned Karin in her direction. He was happy after hearing her say go play him and Itachi but became sad again when Karin said she wanted to stay by her parents side, and became happy again after a short discussion with Karin agreeing. He watched as Karin's mother softly pushed Karin over to them. He stared at Karin, who was looking sad and shy at them, holding her hands near her chest then started to look down at her feet.

"Um, do you want to see our backyard?" Sasuke asked nervously, blushing a little. "Or maybe practice with our shuriken?"

Sasuke saw how Karin looked at him confused for a moment before turning back to look at her mother.

"It's okay, just be careful, sweetie." he heard her mother said.

Follow us, we'll show you where we practice." Itachi said.

Itachi walked away first then Sasuke and Karin, Sasuke glanced back a few times at Karin, smiling. _"This is really cool!"_ he thought.

* * *

Karin walked slowly behind Sasuke and Itachi as she was following them somewhere, she made a sad face and as she put her hands together near her chest. They were now walking into the forest. She looked around to see the tall trees then looked forward to see some trees had targets on them and a huge pond with a little brown pier. They all stopped where they were.

"This is one of our training grounds." Itachi said, turning to Karin.

Karin watched as Itachi walked towards the pond, making her shy a little to kinda being alone with Sasuke, but focused her attention on the lake. Karin was fascinated by pond as the water sparkled by the sunlight. When Karin was done looking at it, she noticed Sasuke smiling at her again, making her more shy and confused.

 _"Why is he looking at me like that?"_ Karin thought.

"Do you want to play with our shurikens together?" Sasuke asked, moving closer to her.

Karin back up a little when Sasuke in front of her, looking down shyly. "But.. Mommy and Daddy said I can't play with shurikens until I'm older."

Sasuke gave her a confused look when she said that. "My Mother and Father let's me and Big Brother play with them as long as we don't hurt ourselves with them." he reached into his left pocket and pulled out 2 shurikens.

"Here, you can hit one of the targets with these." Sasuke said smiling, handing them to her.

Karin just looked down at the shurikens in Sasuke's left hand for a moment then stared up at him, she stepped forward a little and reached with her left hand for them, hesitating a little. She slowly grabbed the shurikens from Sasuke, being careful not to touch him before backing up. She put one of the shurikens in her other hand.

"How about we start with this target?" Sasuke said, pointing with right hand to the tree near the pond. 'I know you'll do great." encouraging her.

Karin looked at the tree Sasuke was pointing at and stared at the shurikens once more before throwing the shuriken in her left hand at the target. She watched it hit below the target, causing her to look down sad.

"Don't be sad, I didn't get it on my first either." Sasuke said, trying to cheer her up.

Karin stared down at the other in her hand then threw it at the target, it hit the outer part of the it.

"That was really great." Sasuke said.

 _"But I didn't hit the center."_ Karin thought.

Suddenly Karin heard a roaring sound coming from the pond, she turned to see a big fireball on top of the pond and Itachi was on the pier blowing.

 _"What's he doing?"_ Karin thought, amazed.

She walked a little to see more until she heard Sasuke's voice.

"Niisan is practicing the Fire Ball jutsu my father taught him a few years ago." Sasuke said.

Karin looked back at Sasuke shocked. _"There father really taught Itachi a really dangerous technique around my age?"_ she thought. _"Mommy and Daddy were right.. the Uchiha clan is so advanced like the Senjus."_

Sasuke stared at her confused now. "Is there something, Karin?"

Karin turned away from his gaze. "Um no... it's just you guys things early."

"Well actually, I don't know how to do the Fire Ball jutsu." Sasuke said.

"Huh?" Karin said, turning back to him.

"My father hasn't taught it to me yet." Sasuke said. "But I will show you mine when I learn it." he smiled.

"Oh.. okay.." Karin said, shyly then turned away. _"I wonder what Mommy and Daddy are discussing right now?"_

"Do you want to practice with my shuriken some more?" Sasuke asked.

"No thank you." Karin said softly. _"Will it end soon?"_

* * *

End of Chapter 1.

Please review.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2.

Please review.

Oniisan means Big Brother.

* * *

Evening time.

Karin was being carried by her father, her head close to his chest, thinking about the Uchiha clan but mostly Sasuke as he behaved towards her today.

 _Flashback_

 _The Uzumaki family were at the Uchiha gates, preparing to leave the Uchiha clan compound with their guards to go back home. Karin looked back at the Uchihas, who were waving goodbye to them, seeing all their faces but what caught her eye was that Sasuke was staring at her sadly, she stopped waving._

 _"Does she really have to go so soon, Mother?" Sasuke asked, looking up at his mom._

 _Mikoto put her right hand on her youngest son's left shoulder. "Don't worry Sasuke, you'll see Karin again very soon." she said, smiling._

 _Sasuke was smiling brightly. "I really will!"_

 _"Of course you will." Mikoto said._

 _Karin blushed lightly as she heard their conversation, a little confused. She suddenly felt a pair of hands on her shoulders, she looked behind her to see her father smiling at her._

 _"It's time to go home now." her father said._

 _"Okay, Daddy." Karin said._

 _Her father picked her up and carried her out of the Uchiha compound with her mother and their guards following them._

* * *

 _"I wonder why he was being so nice to me or why he was mostly blushing at me?"_ Karin thought. _"... Or maybe he was only doing all those things just to be nice?"_

"Karin." a voice said.

Karin was taken out of her thoughts to see her mother staring at her.

"Are you alright?" her mother asked.

"Yes, Mommy." Karin assured. "Why?"

"Well, it seems you have been thinking a lot about something." her mother said.

"It's about the Uchihas." Karin said. "They are stronger than you and Daddy describe them."

"The Uchiha clan have been strong since they were created, so many people have been impressed by their strength when they see them up close instead of hearing it from someone." Her mother said. "So you've seen one of their techniques."

"Hai, Itachi used the Fire Ball jutsu on the lake." Karin explained. "It was really so amazing."

"That's one of their many techniques." her mother said.

 _"Wow."_ Karin thought, astonished.

As the Uzumakis walked for almost 20 minutes, they made it back to their compound. The gates almost immediately opened then they walked in. Ryo put Karin down on the ground, she noticed 3 Uzumaki members standing in the distance smiling at them. The family was consist a man, a woman, a little boy.

The man had tan skin, spiky blonde hair with jaw length bangs framing either side of his face, bright blue eyes, wearing a dark blue shirt that had the Uzumaki crest on the shoulders, and dark blue pants, white tape that wrapped around his lower legs, and blue sandals.

The woman had fair skin, violet eyes, bright red hair that reached her ankles with shoulder length strands that frame both sides of her face and a black hair clip that parted her hair to the left, wearing a high collared, sleeveless white blouse under a long dark green loose fitting dress with a black wristband on her left wrist, and light gray sandals.

The boy standing in between his parents has blonde spiky and blue eyes just like his father, but had the shape of his face and eyes like his mother. 3 whiskers were on each side of his cheeks, wearing a white t-shirt with the Uzumaki crest on the front, blue shorts, and green sandals.

The family walked up to them and was now standing right in front of them.

"Welcome back, Onee-chan and Ryo." the woman greeted.

"It's nice to see you Kushina, Minato, and Naruto." Uzume greeted back, smiling.

"Are you finish meeting with your clan, Minato?" Ryo asked.

"Yes and I have to talk with them again tomorrow." Minato said.

Minato wasn't blood related to the Uzumaki clan instead to the Namikaze clan, which was one of the Uzumaki clan's allies. The Uzumaki clan excepted him as one of their own.

Uzume and Kushina were sisters and best friends, Uzume is three and a half years older than Kushina. Uzume has a kind and gently personality even when she's angry, Kushina also had a kind and gently personality but unlike her older sister when she's angry she is really fierce and scary.

Karin looked at her cousin, Naruto. "Oniisan."

"Hi, Karin." Naruto greeted.

Naruto and Karin were cousins but they thought of each other as brother and sister instead. Like many other Uzumakis in the village, Karin wasn't really shy around Naruto but was still polite and gentle. They told each other everything. Naruto was 4 months older than Karin.

"Karin, can you go play with Naruto while me and your mother discuss something with your Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina?" Ryo asked.

"Hai, Daddy." Karin said.

Naruto and Karin walked off as they left their parents side, with Karin on the right and Naruto on the left. As the 2 were walking, Naruto turned his head to Karin's direction.

"What happened when you guys went to the Uchiha compound to visit?" Naruto asked, curiously.

"Huh, um?" Karin said, looking at him before looking down, her hands behind her back. "It was fine, Mommy and Daddy discussed many things with the Uchiha leaders, Fugaku and Mikoto but..." Karin said.

"But what?" Naruto questioned. "Is there something wrong?"

"I met their sons, Itachi and Sasuke." Karin said. "... The youngest son, Sasuke was really nice to me and thought me how to throw shurikens."

"So.. what's the problem?" Naruto asked.

"He keeps looking at me and I sometimes he blushes." Karin explained.

"Maybe because he really likes you." Naruto said, smiling.

Karin looked at her cousin with wide eyes, blushed furiously. "That's not true!" she said.

"I think it is." Naruto teased, smiling.

"He probably only did that just to be nice." Karin said.

"I still think he does." Naruto said.

 _"Well.. he was sad when we were about to leave the Uchiha compound.. but still..."_ Karin thought.

"So, did you see any techniques they used?" Naruto asked, changing the subject.

"They are really strong just like Mommy and Daddy described." Karin said. "I've seen Itachi used the Fire Ball jutsu while Sasuke was teaching me how to throw shurikens, he said he learned it when he was our age."

"That's amazing!" Naruto said, astounded.

"Um... how was your visit at the Namikaze compound?" Karin asked.

"It was great." Naruto replied.

Naruto was able to go outside the Uzumaki compound to visit many places with his parents, especially to his 2 clans. Unlike Karin, who hasn't left the compound since she was a baby when visited the Uchiha compound, until a few hours ago.

They stopped when they made it to the clan houses, seeing lots of red haired men, women, and children working and playing.

"Do you want to play at my house or your house?" Naruto asked, turning to Karin.

Karin looked over to the left and stared at her house, it was a medium sized light brown wooden house with a little dark wood on it then looked over to the right to see Naruto's house, a medium sized light grey house.

"Your house." Karin said, smiling.

* * *

Day time.

It had been a few days since the Uzumakis went to visit the Uchiha compound then returned home to their compound. Karin was watering the flowers in her backyard with yellow metal water can while lost in thought, thinking about Sasuke.

Her parents were discussing something with some of the other Uzumakis.

 _"I wonder what they are doing right now?"_ Karin thought.

Karin was pushed out of her thoughts as she suddenly sensed Naruto coming over to her location, she turned her head to the right to see him running towards her.

"Karin!" Naruto yelled, smiling.

"Oniisan." Karin said.

Naruto stopped beside her. "Do you want to play hide and seek?"

"Okay, but where is Aunt Kushina and Uncle Minato?" Karin asked, putting the watch can down on a nearby table.

"They went to the meeting." Naruto said. "How about you hide first."

"What number will you count to, Oniisan?" Karin asked.

"20." Naruto said. "Now hide."

"Okay." Karin said before running off.

Naruto closed his eyes and turned around then started counting. As Karin was running, she looked around for a perfect hiding spot until she suddenly stopped her eyes widened as she sensed 2 familiar chakras coming to the Uzumaki compound. The 2 chakras were Mikoto and Sasuke.

 _"No.. they can't.. be.."_ Karin thought, shocked.

"Here I come, Karin."

Karin snapped out of it, almost forgetting that she was playing hide and seek. _"I have to hide from both Oniisan and Sasuke."_ she thought before running again, deciding to hide in the trees.

* * *

Naruto finished counting.

"Here I come, Karin!" Naruto yelled, taking his hands off of his eyes. _"I wonder where she could be hiding?"_

Naruto looked around for Karin everywhere, in the house, secret places, garden and couldn't find her. He was about to check the trees until he heard footsteps behind him, he turned around thinking it was Karin trying to sneek away only to see a spiky black hair boy with black onyx eyes looked to be around his age, walking and looking around as if he was looking for someone. Naruto stared curiously was confused at the mysterious boy deciding to walk up to him.

Naruto smiled. Hi, I'm N-" he was cut off when the black haired boy walked past him completely ignoring him.

This angered Naruto, he turned glaring at the boy. "Hey don't ignore me!" he yelled. "What's your name?!"

The black haired boy stopped and turned his head around glaring at Naruto. "I'm not required to give you my name."

Naruto just kept glaring at him. "What are you doing in the Uzumaki compound? What ae you looking for?"

"That's none of your business." the black haired boy replied, fully turning to him.

Naruto growled at him, he just met the guy and he already hates him.

* * *

Karin was hiding behind one of the trees, she had been there for a while, patiently waiting for her brother to find her and also hiding from Sasuke.

 _"What will happen if Oniisan and Sasuke meet will they be friends?"_ Karin thought.

She suddenly sensed Naruto and Sasuke's chakras were close to each other then a few seconds later she heard yelling from her hiding spot.

 _"Oh no what happened?"_ Karin thought worried.

She moved from her hiding spot and walked to her house then hid behind a tree again. She peeked out a little to see Sasuke and Naruto yelling at each other.

"O-oniisan?" Karin said sadly, almost a whisper.

The 2 boys stopped arguing and looked where the sound came from to see Karin sadly looking at them while hiding behind a tree.

"Karin." Sasuke said now smiling.

"Hello, Sasuke." Karin greeted, shyly.

"Sasuke?" Naruto said. _"This is the boy she was talking about a few days ago!"_ he thought.

Sasuke slowly started to walk over to Karin. "I've been looking for." then stopped halfway knowing what she would do.

"Is your mother here for business?" Karin asked, shyly.

"No, we came to visit you guys." Sasuke said, smiling. "And I really wanted to see you again."

Karin blushed at what he just said. "Um.. me and my Oniisan are playing hide and seek.. do you want to play with us.. I mean you don't have it.." she asked, shyly.

"I would love to." Sasuke said, smiling even more.

Naruto walked up and stood in front and beside Sasuke. "Karin, are you that you want him to play us?" he questioned, pointing to Sasuke, who was now glaring at him.

"Yes, I think it will be fun with more people playing, Oniisan." Karin said.

"Fine." Naruto groaned, annoyed.

"Um.. I think I will count this time.." Karin said.

"But won't you find us easily by sensing us?" Naruto asked.

"Oh." Karin said.

"How about you 2 hide and I'll find you." Sasuke said.

"Are you sure you want to?" Karin asked.

"Yes." Sasuke said.

"Well then count to 30." Naruto said.

* * *

An hour later.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Karin were sitting on the grass that was under a tree, eating out of bento boxes as they were done playing hide and seek right now. Karin was sitting between Naruto and Sasuke but was near Naruto the most.

As Karin was slowly eating her rice with her chopsticks, she felt a hand on her right shoulder she looked to see Sasuke's left hand on it then stared up to see Sasuke smiling at her, making her cheeks blush lightly.

"Do you want to play with my shurikens again after we finish eating?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know.. I'm still a little tired from us playing hide and seek." Karin said shyly.

"Well maybe I can play with your shurikens?" Naruto said.

"No way. You will ruin them." Sasuke said.

"What?!" Naruto asked now glaring, getting angry at him.

"P-please don't fight." Karin said sadly, looking at both of them.

Naruto just groaned before eating out of his bento, Karin sighed calmly before eating the last the last of her rice then set her empty bento box.

"Okay.. I will play shurikens with you.." Karin said shyly, looking at the ground. "Um, there are some trees that have targets on them just like at your compound."

"That's great." Sasuke said, smiling.

"If only Oniisan can play, too." Karin said.

Sasuke looked at Naruto annoyed before looking back at Karin again. "Okay."

Karin smiled softly at Sasuke. "Thank you."

10 minutes later.

Naruto, Karin, and Sasuke standing and looking at the 3 targets on a tree. Karin was standing behind Naruto, her hands on his shoulders as they watched Sasuke preparing to strike one of the targets with shurikens.

"Are you sure he's good at throwing shurikens, Karin?" Naruto asked, looking at her.

"Yes I saw him hit only the center at once." Karin said.

Sasuke threw the shurikens and they all hit the center of the upper target, Naruto was impressed how he was able to hit the center perfectly, but the expression on his face became annoyed.

"Big deal, I can do that too, dattebayo." Naruto said.

Naruto walked closer to the tree when Karin took her hands off of his shoulders. Sasuke walked to Naruto and annoyingly gave him 6 shurikens from his pockets then stepped to the left side.

Naruto looked at the lower target before throwing them, hitting the outer parts of it.

"That was fine." Karin said softly smiling at Naruto.

Naruto turned and smiled back at her.

"That was lame." Sasuke said.

"What?!" Naruto said turning to him, angrily.

"You said that you can what I just did but you can't even do that." Sasuke said.

Naruto just growled as he glared at Sasuke.

 _"I really don't want them to fight."_ Karin thought sadly.

Sasuke turned to Karin. "Karin, it's your turn."

"Oh, okay." Karin said, getting out of her thoughts.

Karin walked over to Sasuke, who was getting 6 more shurikens from his pockets and held them up to her, and shyly took them. Naruto and Sasuke gave some space as she was preparing to throw them. She threw 6 of them one at a time at the upper target, 4 of them hit the middle section while 2 of them hit the outer section.

"That was great, Karin." Sasuke said smiling, walking up to her.

"But I didn't hit the center of the target." Karin said shyly, sadly looking down.

"It's just like what I said last time. I didn't get it on my first but you've really improved over the last time we have played with shurikens, that was great. Not like your cousin, Naruto." Sasuke said smiling.

Karin blushed furiously then looked away at what he said, while Naruto just stared angrily again at Sasuke now.

Naruto was about to say something until he heard 2 women's voice, one he recognizes as his mother and one he didn't recognize. Karin stopped blushing when heard voices calling them.

"Naruto, Karin!"

"Sasuke, where are you?!"

Sasuke, Karin, and Naruto turned to around to where the voices were coming from.

"We're over here!" Naruto yelled.

A few moments later they saw Kushina and Mikoto coming from the side of the house.

"There you 3 are, you had me worried for a moment." Kushina said smiling.

Kushina and Mikoto stopped right in front of them.

"Come on Sasuke, it's time to go home now." Mikoto said.

"Aww already, Mom." Sasuke said, looking at his mother sadly.

"Don't be sad Sasuke, we can come back again soon I promise, right now have to go back to the compound okay." Mikoto said, smiling.

"Okay." Sasuke said, sadly.

Mikoto walked away and Sasuke slowly followed after his mother but stopped and looked back.

"Karin, see you later." Sasuke said smiling then turned forward and followed after his mother again.

Karin stared at Sasuke, who was walking away, she put her hands together near her chest.

"Okay you 2 it's time to go inside." Kushina said smiling.

Naruto and Karin stared up at Kushina now.

"Your Mom wants to see you right now, Karin." Kushina said. "She has to tell you something."

"Where's Daddy?" Karin asked softly.

"An hour ago he went with your Uncle Minato to the Sarutobi compound to discuss something important with the leader, Hiruzen Sarutobi." Kushina said.

"Aww." Naruto and Karin sighed sadly.

"Don't be sad you 2, your fathers will be back in a few hours." Kushina said.

"Um, what does Mommy want to talk to me about Aunt Kushina." Karin asked.

"She didn't say but I think it's really important." Kushina said.

"Thank you, I will see you 2 later." Karin said.

Karin quickly walked to the house and slid one of the shoji doors then slid one of them closed, leaving Kushina and Naruto outside, who were now playing together.

* * *

Karin, in her nightgown, was sleeping peacefully in her bed the bedsheets covering her small frame as she nuzzled into the pillow. She suddenly awakened when she sensed her father coming to her room but still stayed in place and her eyes still closed. A few seconds later he opened her door revealing him, he walked over to his daughter and sat down close to her to kiss her on the forehead.

"Daddy." Karin said, slowly opening her eyes.

Ryo back a little to give his daughter some room to sit up straight.

Karin rubbed her eyes with her hands then reached for her glasses on her table. "What are you doing here Daddy, you kissed me goodnight a few hours ago." she said, putting on her glasses then looked up at her father.

"Well, I won't be here in the morning, sweetie." Ryo said.

"What do you mean, will you be back in the afternoon?" Karin asked curiously.

"No I won't be here this afternoon." Ryo said. "I will be gone for a few weeks with your Uncle Minato, Fugaku Uchiha, and other allies on an important mission in 2 hours."

"Please don't go Daddy, I'll miss you too much." Karin said sadly.

"I have to go help them Karin, they need me on this mission." Ryo said, placing his right hand of his daughter's face. "But don't worry, I will be back."

Karin looked down for a few moments as tears formed in her eyes then looked back up at her father. "Y-you promise you will be back Daddy."

"I promise."Ryo said, smiling warmly at Karin.

Karin removed his hand from her face and got up then hugged her father tightly around his neck, tears streaming down her face. "I hope you be safe Daddy."

Ryo put his left hand around his daughter's waist and his right hand in her hair, caressing it softly. "I will sweetie."

* * *

End of Chapter 2.

Please review.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3.

Please review.

Sorry for the long wait for the 3 chapter.

* * *

Karin, in her usual outfit, was sitting on the bed in her room. She had a sad face as she was hugging her knees closely, thinking about her father. It had been a few weeks since Karin has seen her father. Naruto always asked if she wanted to play with him but she said she would play later.

 _"I wonder why Daddy hasn't come now? Is the mission really that bad or are they traveling?"_ Karin thought as she hugged her knees more. _"Or maybe... they're not done yet and doesn't want to come home yet?"_

Time past as she waited in her room then suddenly her head perked up as she sensed her Uncle Minato, Fugaku, and few other chakras coming to the Uzumaki compound.

 _"Is Daddy suppressing his chakra again?"_ Karin thought.

Karin quickly got off her bed and to her door then opened it before running in the halls to go outside to see them. She ran outside to the open gates but stopped midway their when she saw that her Uncle Minato and Fugaku clothes were ripped up and had bruises on their body, seeing they had scars on their face. She also saw a couple of Uzumakis and Uchihas behind them had their clothes tattered but not like her uncle and Fugaku, which were worse. She saw that they all had sad faces as they were walking past the gates.

"What happened?!" one of the Uzumaki guards at the gates asked sadly.

Her mother, her Aunt Kushina, and a few Uzumaki clan people came running past her as they ran to the gates. She saw them talking to her uncle and Fugaku but couldn't hear what they were say because she was far away.

Karin slowly walked towards them wanting to know what they are talking about.

"That can't be please tell me it's not him." Uzume said, tears running down her face.

"I'm so sorry, Uzume." Minato said sadly, looking down. "I really wish it was."

"This is really tragic." Fugaku said, sadly.

Kushina made a sad face as she put her hands on her older sister's shoulders. "I'm so sorry this happened."

Karin saw them stop talking as they all looked at her sad when she stopped near them.

"Uncle Minato, where's Daddy?" Karin asked, looking at him. "I don't sense his chakra anywhere."

They all looked down, unable to tell her.

"Did he use the chakra suppression technique to surprise me?" Karin asked. "Why is everyone sad?"

Her mother cried a little more at the questions she was asking then she watched her walked up to her and kneeled to her level.

Her mother hands on her shoulders. "Um, sweetie... I'm afraid... your father is... no longer with us."

"What do you mean, Mommy?" Karin asked. "He wasn't with us for a few weeks."

"No, your father is... gone." her mother said, before more tears started running down her face.

"Gone?" Karin said, her face now turning sad. "He said he'll be back."

"Well, sweetie..." her mother was thinking.

Karin saw to the left of the corner of her eye to someone laying on the ground and was covered by a white and cloth. She noticed her father's shoes, clothes, and hair.

"Daddy!" Karin said sadly as ran over it.

"Karin, please don't look." her mother said, reaching out to her but Karin still ran.

Karin made it to it and was immediately horrified at what she saw. This person was her father's but she sensed no chakra in him. She saw many scars on his body. She kneeled down in front of him and put her hands on the chest of her father.

"Daddy... Daddy, please get up..." Karin said sadly.

But their was no response.

"Daddy, please get up please..." Karin said again, shaking, tears now forming in her eyes. "Daddy." but still no response.

Tears rapidly ran down Karin's face as she put her face on his chest. _"Daddy is... dead!"_

"Sweetie." a voice said.

Karin opened her eyes and turned around to see her mother walking towards her.

"I'm so sorry about this sweetie." her mother said sadly.

Karin looked at everyone to see that they still had sad faces then got up before backing away from her mother.

"Daddy is... really dead." Karin whispered, still crying. "He promised... he would be back."

"Sweetie..." her mother said.

"Father... lied to me..." Karin said before running off to the house crying.

"Karin, wait!" her mother called out to her daughter as she ran after her.

Karin ran in the house, quickly took off her shoes, and to her room, locking the door behind her as she sat with her back against it as she hugged her knees before crying sadly again.

"Karin, please open up." her mother said on the other side of the door.

But Karin still cried, ignoring her mother's voice.

* * *

"Karin sweetie, please open the door." Uzume called out again sadly.

All she heard was her daughter crying in her room. She was about to call again until she felt a hand on her right shoulder, she looked to see her younger sister and Minato standing there and looking at her sadly.

"You have to give her some time, Onee-chan." Kushina said, removing her hand from her sister's shoulder.

More tears started to flow from Uzume's eyes, missing her husband and wanting so badly to comfort her daughter.

...

Half an hour has passed.

Living room.

Uzume was sitting alone on a couch and facing her on another couch was Minato and Kushina sitting together. It felt like hours but it was only a few minutes. Uzume was looking down sadly, her hands together in her lap, trying to find something to say.

"Minato... h-how did... Ryo... died?" Uzume asked, looking at him.

Minato sighed sadly as he looked down for a moment then his head risen and opened his eyes.

"We were in enemy territory and battling them for weeks." Minato said. "We were told that they wanted to sign a peace treaty with us... but that was a lie to just kill us."

Uzume face turned to shock and confused, remembering that Ryo had told her something like that weeks before he left.

"On the last day of the battle, we were winning the fight even in the beginning but then they unleashed a certain jutsu on us." Minato said.

"A certain jutsu?" Uzume asked.

"It was an unknown jutsu but I did see them make the hand signs of it. We're still searching scrolls of it. But more importantly, Ryo saved us all from the jutsu at the cost of his own life." Minato said sadly.

More tears ran down Uzume's face when Minato finished telling her about her husband's death.

"The last words Ryo told me to tell you is that 'I love you Uzume, take good care of our daughter and the clan. Karin needs you more than ever in her life now'." Minato said.

Uzume still cried at what Minato said, she looked down closing her eyes. _"Ryo... If you can hear this... I love you too, but our daughter is really sad right now after seeing your corpse... How can I lead the clan, we've always led it together..."_ she thought sadly. Not even noticing her sister had gotten up from the couch.

Moments later, Uzume suddenly felt a hand on her right shoulder, she looked up to see Kushina was staring down at her.

"Onee-chan.. I know how much you love Ryo right now, everybody who knew him is going to miss him greatly..." Kushina said. "But you still me, Minato, our clans, and especially Karin by your side.."

Uzume felt more tears running down her face at what her little sister said to her just now. She grabbed Kushina's shoulders and pulled her into a hug, crying into her left shoulder.

"T-thank you Kushina for being here with me." Uzume said, holding her tighter. "Thank you."

Kushina smiled a little and softly rubbed her back with her right hand. "We'll always be here with you Onee-chan, you're not alone." she said.

* * *

A few hours later.

Karin was still sitting by her door and hugging her knees, she stopped crying awhile ago but still felt sad after seeing her father's death body. She closed her eyes as she began to remember something from the past about her and her father.

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _Daytime._

 _Ryo and Karin were playing tag in their backyard, Ryo was running after his daughter as they were both laughing happily._

 _"You can't catch me this time Daddy!" Karin said running._

 _"Yes I can." Ryo said smiling._

 _Within seconds, Ryo picked up Karin and held her close._

 _"I finally caught you." Ryo said._

 _"You're really good at this game Daddy." Karin said laughing._

 _"You know what else I'm good at?" Ryo asked his daughter._

 _"What?" Karin asked._

 _"Tickling." Ryo said._

 _He started tickling Karin's stomach, making her laugh uncontrollably in his arms._

* * *

Karin put her hands over her face as she cried after she remembered memories of her father. She suddenly stopped crying as she sensed her mother coming towards her room. She turned around as she now sensed that she was behind the door. There was a few knocks at the door.

"Please open the door sweetie." Uzume said softly on the other side of the door.

Karin slowly got up from the ground and turned around then slowly unlocked the door, she turned the knob with her left hand and opened the door. She looked up to see her mother staring down at her.

Uzume looked down to see her daughter still had a sad face and tears in her eyes as they were running down her eyes. Uzume crouched down and hugged her crying daughter.

"I'm so sorry that this happened, Karin." Uzume said, caressing the back of her daughter's head with her right hand.

Karin hugged her mother back as she closed her eyes tightly as cried again into the front side of her mother's shirt.

10 minutes later.

Uzume and Karin were sitting on the bed hugging for awhile as the door was closed. They sat in complete silence until Uzume started to talk.

"Your father was a very kind man even before I met him." Uzume said.

Karin looked up at her mother, who was smiling sadly forward, with sad and curious eyes.

"Huh?" Karin asked.

Uzume looked down at her daughter. "He was the sweetest and gentlest man I've ever met, there will never be another one like him ever." she said.

Karin looked down as she thought trying to think about what to ask her mother then she thought of the perfect one, she looked up at her mother again.

"Mommy, h-how did you and Daddy met each other?" Karin asked.

Uzume was a little surprised that her daughter asked her that question, she turned forward as she blushed a little.

"Even though we are from the same clan, we met when we were 6 years old." Uzume said. "Me and your Aunt Kushina were playing hide and seek outside in the backyard of our house. I was trying to find your Aunt when a yellow ball rolled to my feet, I picked it up and turned to see a boy with short spiky red hair and glasses, who happened to be your father, was walking towards me. He kindly asked for it back, I walked up to him and handed it back to him. I suddenly noticed that he was cute and had the enchanting eyes I have ever seen. I noticed that he was lightly blushing. And that was the day me and your father met one another." Uzume said.

Karin looked amazed at what her mother just explained. _"So that's how they've met."_ she thought.

Karin smiled a little but frowned again. "I really miss Daddy." she said.

"I know..." Uzume said before she kissed her daughter on the forehead. "I miss him too, sweetie... But your father would want you to be happy even if he's not here anymore."

Karin still looked sadly at her mother.

"Even though he sadly passed away, you still have me, your Aunt, your Uncle, and your cousin Naruto with you." Uzume said hugging her close again.

* * *

A few days later.

Their was a gray coffin in the middle of the grass as it had a picture of Ryo on the top of it and was surrounded by flowers. There were many rows of people wear black with each having their clan's crests on the back; they all black shirts but the men wore pants and the women skirts. All the people were from the Uchiha clan, Uzumaki clan, Namikaze, and their other clan allies.

Uzume, Karin, Kushina, Minato, and Naruto were standing in front of them as they close to Ryo. Everyone had their eyes closed and their heads lowered as they were praying for the decreased young man. When they were finished, everyone opened their eyes, some people went to lay more flowers on Ryo's coffin before they lower it in the ground, while others chatted with one another.

Karin was standing in the same spot as sadly looked at the picture of her father's smiling face. Her mother, Uncle Minato, and Aunt Kushina were talking to Fugaku and Mikoto about something important a couple of feet away from her. She lowered her head as she looked down at the ground.

 _"Goodbye... Daddy..."_ Karin thought sadly. _"I will always miss... and love you."_

"Karin." a voice said.

Karin looked up as she was pulled out of her thoughts and turned to the right to see Sasuke walking towards her with a bouquet of white roses in his hands, his face was sad.

Sasuke stopped right in front of Karin. "I'm sorry about your Dad, I've brought you some flowers." he said before handing her the flowers.

"T-thank you." Karin said, slowly grabbing the flowers. "Um, c-can I put them next to the others flowers, my Daddy always loved white roses, too." she asked.

"Of course." Sasuke said.

Sasuke and Karin walked over to the coffin, Karin carefully put the roses near her father's picture, she suddenly backed up and started to cry. She suddenly felt a hand on her right shoulder, she looked to see Sasuke, staring at worried.

"S-sasuke." Karin said.

"Please don't cry, you have me as well." Sasuke said softly.

Karin hugged Sasuke tightly, wrapping her arms around his neck, as she silently cried into his left shoulder. Sasuke hugged her back equally as he rubbed her back with his right hand.

"It's okay." Sasuke said softly, comforting her.

They stayed like that for a minute until they suddenly heard Naruto's voice. They pulled apart to see Naruto walking towards them. Karin suddenly realized that she was hugging Sasuke, she blushed furiously as she pulled away from him and backed up, which made Sasuke sad.

"Oniisan." Karin said softly, putting her hands together.

* * *

Uzume was talking to Minato, Kushina, Fugaku, and Mikoto about the Uzumaki clan.

"I'm sorry that Ryo passed away." Mikoto said sadly to Uzume.

"It's okay, his soul is in a better place now." Uzume said, smiling sadly.

"But are you going to let someone else lead the Uzumaki clan now that he died or lead it in his place, Onee-chan?" Kushina said.

"I'll lead the Uzumaki clan." Uzume said.

"Then me and Minato will help you." Kushina said smiling softly.

"Thanks, Kushina." Uzume said smiling back.

* * *

Itachi was standing a few feet away from his little brother Sasuke was hugging the crying red haired girl affectionately before the a spiky yellow haired boy came over, causing Karin to pull away quickly much to his little brother's dismay, and they started talking.

Itachi smiled at the display. _"I really like her, Sasuke."_ he thought.

"Itachi." a female voice said.

Itachi turned around to see a smiling girl that was 9 years old like he was, she had fair skin, a mole under her right eye, long brown hair that reached her waist with bangs framing the sides of her face, onyx black eyes,

"Hello, Izumi." Itachi said.

"I've been looking everywhere for you." Izumi said, stopping next to him, then something made her confused. "Where's Sasuke? He's mostly by your side." she asked, looking around.

Itachi turned back around. "He's over there." he said, pointing with his left hand.

Izumi looked where Itachi was pointing to see Sasuke talking to a red haired girl and a spiky yellow haired boy, also seeing him stared at the girl worriedly.

"Who is that little boy and girl with Sasuke?" Izumi asked curiously.

"That's Karin and her cousin Naruto from the Uzumaki clan." Itachi said.

"Karin? You mean that's the girl your little brother really likes a lot since he was a baby?" Izumi asked.

"Yes." Itachi said.

"She's has changed since I saw her in the picture." Izumi said, looking back at the 3 children, seeing now that Karin was shyly looking down at the ground while Sasuke was staring at her and Naruto was yelling at Sasuke.

 _"It reminds me of that day... long ago."_ Izumi thought.

* * *

 _Flashback._

 _Izumi, 5 years old, her hair tied in a ponytail that had a red ribbon on it, and in her usual outfit, a long sleeved, high collared purple shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, long brown pants, and dark blue sandals, was quietly running to Itachi's house to play with him today._

 _As she made it to Itachi's house at the backyard, Izumi saw that Itachi, in his usual outfit, was sitting on the ground with Sasuke, in a light blue long sleeved shirt with the Uchiha crest and dark blue pants, in his arms._

 _"Hello, Itachi." Izumi said, stopping in front of him._

 _"Izumi." Itachi said._

 _Izumi noticed that the baby Sasuke was holding a picture, that had a young man with spiky red hair and glasses standing on the left, a young woman with red straight shoulder length hair standing on the right with a red haired infant girl in her arms, with both hands and was staring at it especially at the infant girl._

 _"Who are those people in the picture?" Izumi asked._

 _Itachi looked down at the picture for a moment then looked back up at Izumi. "They are my Parents friends, Ryo and Uzume, and their infant Karin, but he really likes her."_

 _"Aww, your little brother has developed a crush at this age." Izumi said, looking down at Sasuke._

 _"Seems like it." Itachi said._

 _Izumi tried to take picture from to see what will happen, only for Sasuke move the picture of her reach and close to his chest as he glared at Izumi._

 _"He still doesn't like me." Izumi said sadly._

* * *

End of Flashback.

 _"I wonder if those 2 will get married in the future when their older?"_ Izumi thought, continuing to watch the display.

* * *

End of Chapter 3.

Please review.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4.

Please review.

* * *

2 years later.

Karin, now 7 years old and in her new usual outfit, dark brown glasses, a dark purple short sleeved shirt that had the Uzumaki crest on the back with a brown v neck collar, light brown pants, her hair still at a chin length, was in her living room sitting in the the seiza position as she was at a table that had a picture of her father on it with 1 lighted candle and white rose in a blue vase on each side of it, closing her eyes and bowed her head as she prayed for her father.

 _"Daddy."_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin opened her eyes as she was done praying to the picture of her decreased father. She suddenly sensed her mother's chakra entered the living room. She turned to the right to see her mother smiling at her.

"Karin follow me, we need to talk to you and your cousin Naruto about something important." Uzume said to her daughter.

"Okay, Mommy." Karin said then slowly stood up before following her mother out of the living room.

As Karin followed her mother to a room, she sensed her Uncle, Aunt, and cousin's chakra in the room they're walking to. They made it to the room and Uzume slid the shoji doors and they walked in to see Minato, his usual outfit, a green flak jacket, and a short-sleeved long white haori that had red flames at the bottom red flame-like motifs on the edges, with the kanji for "Fourth Hokage" written vertically down the back, closed in the front by a thin, orange rope, and Kushina, in her usual outfit,were standing together while Naruto, in his new usual outfit, a long sleeved green shirt with a short sleeved beige shirt with the Uzumaki crest on the front of it over it and dark gray pants, was sitting a brown chair facing them. They all stared at them when Uzume and Karin entered.

Minato became the fourth Hokage a few months ago after Hiruzen, leader of the Sarutobi clan and also the third Hokage, stepped down. Over the time, Minato was becoming a great leader and making important decisions that was making everyone in the village happy and peaceful.

"Hi, Karin." Naruto said smiling.

"Hello to you too, Oniisan." Karin said smiling back.

"Karin, can you please take a seat?" Uzume asked.

"Okay." Karin said.

Karin walked over to Naruto and sat in the brown chair next to him. Uzume stood on the right side of Kushina.

"What did you guys wanted to talk to me and Karin about Dad?" Naruto asked.

"We wanted to you 2 something together that we think you 2 will like." Minato said smiling.

"About what?" Naruto asked confused.

"We've signed you 2 for the Ninja Academy." Uzume said.

"Y-you mean." Karin said.

"That's right you 2 will be attending the Academy in a few days." Kushina said.

Naruto smiled brightly as he was excited at the news while Karin frowned and lowered her head at it.

"Finally I can learn how to become a ninja, dattebayo." Naruto said.

"We know you 2 will be great ninjas in the future." Minato said smiling.

Uzume looked down at her daughter worriedly, seeing that she looks sad.

 _"Karin is sad for some reason, is it about the Academy?"_ Uzume thought concerned about her daughter.

* * *

Later that day.

After they were done talking, Minato went back to the Hokage Mansion while Kushina and Naruto went back to their house after saying their goodbyes.

Karin was still sitting in the chair, staring down sadly at the ground as her hands were in lap thinking about something. Uzume walked over to her daughter and was standing right in front of her.

"Karin." Uzume said, looking down at her.

Karin was pushed out of her thoughts after hearing her mother's voice and looked up at her. "Yes, Mommy?" she asked.

"Why are you sad?" Uzume asked. "Was it something that your Uncle and Aunt said about you and your cousin going to attend the Academy?"

"Hai." Karin said, looking down sadly.

Uzume crouched down to her daughter's level. "What is it about?" she asked.

"W-what if I'm not like you and Daddy when you 2 attended the Academy?" Karin said sadly then sighed. "I'm not good at anything, nobody wants to be friends with me."

Karin suddenly felt her mother's left hand on her right shoulder. "You don't have to be like me and your father everyone is different, besides you're good at something sweetie." she said. "Ever since me and your father thought you how to read you've really good at it."

"I am?" Karin asked.

"Of course you are and you're also good at analyzing and understanding things quickly for a child your age." Uzume said. "You're going to be learning new things, too."

Karin smiled slightly as her mother was cheering her up.

"Besides you won't be alone, Naruto and Sasuke will be attending the Academy as well." Uzume said.

Karin's face expression became surprised. "Huh, Sasuke is going, too?" she asked.

"Yes, Mikoto told me that Sasuke's going to attend and he was excited that he was going." Uzume said. "But she also said that Sasuke asked if you were going as well."

"He did?" Karin asked surprised.

"Yes... it's your decision if you want to go or not, sweetie." Uzume said. "Do you want to go?"

Karin looked down at the ground again and thought about it for awhile then looked up at her mother. "I'll go to the Academy." she said.

"That's wonderful." Uzume said then leaned in and hugged her daughter. "You'll do great at the Academy."

* * *

A few days later.

There was a red building also known as the Academy is quite large and is comprised of several buildings which were erected over time. The building can be identified by the tree in front of it which has a swing on it and more so, by the giant sign with the kanji for **Fire** (火) on it.

There were many children standing near the Academy in a 10 by 9 row. The parents of the new students were standing behind them. Minato was saying a speech to all of the people who were attending.

Uzume, in her usual outfit, was standing next to Mikoto, in her usual outfit, Fugaku, in his usual outfit, and Itachi, now 11 years old, his hair in a low ponytail, and in his new usual outfit, a foreha black high collared shirt sleeved shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, bandages around his ankles, tan pants with a weapons pouch at the back, and black sandals, also the dark blue forehead protector wrapped around his forehead, and Kushina, in her usual outfit, on the right side of her.

Karin, in her usual outfit, was standing in the 8 by 5 row, Sasuke, now 8 years old and in his new usual outfit, a black high collared long sleeved shirt shirt with the Uchiha crest, light gray pants, white bandages wrapped around his lower legs, and green sandals, was standing next to Karin on left side looking forward. Naruto, now 8 years old and in his usual outfit and blue sandals, was standing on the right side of Karin looking forward.

Karin looked down sadly. _"Was it a good thing for me to say 'yes' to Mommy about attending the Academy?"_ she thought closing her eyes. _"Or... M-maybe I should have said 'no'?"_

Karin suddenly felt a hand on her left shoulder, she opened her eyes and looked to the left to see Sasuke smiling at her.

"You'll do great at the Academy." Sasuke said.

"T-thank you, Sasuke." Karin said smiling back shyly.

Karin suddenly blushed furiously and looked away from Sasuke to the right after realizing the sudden contact form Sasuke. Sasuke stared at her confused.

...

After Minato was done talking, everyone scattered and started talking to one another. Karin was standing next to her mother, Mikoto, and Aunt Kushina, who were chatting with each other.

Karin had her hands together and close to her chest as she curiously and shyly looked around the area, seeing parents talking to their children. She spotted 2 talking to their daughter. The man looked to be in his mid thirties, had brown skin, blue eyes, dull-pink hair which is styled into the shape of a cherry blossom, sideburns which flow into his angular moustache and a bit of stubble on his chin, wearing a dark, loose-fitting kimono-shirt which has a green, inner-lining and sleeves which extend beyond his kimono shirt with the Haruno crest on the back, a simple gray obi which he wears along with a burgundy coloured ¾-length pants, and a pair of simple slippers, and a simple silver necklace with a pink cherry blossom design on it with a single petal being deep red in colour. The woman looked to be in her early thirties, had fair skin with shoulder-length, blonde hair with a single bang which falls down into her face, green eyes, wearing a white quipao dress with the Haruno crest on the back and three red circular designs at the bottom of the front of her dress as well as the back, pink ¾-length pants along with brown sandals. The daughter looked to be 7 years old and had fair skin, green eyes, pink hair that is at a chin length with red ribbon tied around it as a headband, a big forehead, a green dress with large spot of light green color on the lower left side, and dark blue sandals. They were all from the Haruno clan.

"Okay, Sakura your going do great at the Academy, especially with your new friend Ino." the woman said looking down at their daughter smiling.

"Are you sure?" Sakura asked, looking up at her parents.

"Of course your mother is sure and you'll also make new ones." the man said.

"Kizashi, we have to buy more books for our Sakura for her to be smarter." the woman said, looking at her husband with a serious face.

"You're right, Mebuki-dear." Kizashi said smiling at his wife.

Sakura closed her eyes as she smiled goofily at her parents behavior over her.

Karin looked over at another family. The man looked to be in his early 30's and had a brown skin color with 2 scars on the right side of his face, black hair in a high spiky ponytail, black eyes, black goatee, wearing a meshed shirt underneath his flak jacket, a deer skin coat over that, hand guards, and dark brown sandals. The woman had fair skin, long, dark brown hair usually kept in a low ponytail with three strands framing her face, wearing silver hoop earrings, a pink blouse and dark-coloured skirt, and brown sandals. Their son had fair skin, shoulder length black hair that was tied up in a high spiky ponytail, wearing a light blue shirt that had the Nara crest on the front with dark blue linings at the end of the sleeves, dark blue pants, and blue sandals. The woman was yelling at the man and their son, who had on a lazy expression. The name of the man was Shikaku, the woman was named Yoshino, and the name of their son was Shikamaru. They were from the Nara clan.

Karin spotted another family near the Nara family. The man looked to be in his early 30's and had fair skin, plump with long, spiky red hair and purple markings on his cheeks, wearing a hachimaki around his forehead, a samurai like outfit which entails a black suit completed with armour that has the kanji for "food" (食, _shoku_ ) on it, rope belt, and hand-guards. The woman looked to be in her early 30's and had tan skin, full-bodied with short, black hair and eyes which are accentuated by orange markings at each corner, wearing a light shade of lipstick, a pair of red, stud earrings along with a high-collared Chinese purple blouse which has gold trimmings and the clan's obligatory kanji for "food" (食, _shoku_ ) on the back, a pair of pants, and heeled sandals. Their son looked to be 8 years old and has a rotound build and markings on his cheeks in the form of swirls, spiky, brown hair that sticks upwards, wearing a dark green zipped up shirt with light green at the top of it, dark blue pants, and blue sandals. The name of the man was Choza, the woman was named Rina, and their son was named Choji. They were having nice conversation with one another, all coming from the Akimichi clan.

Karin looked to the other side and saw another family. The man looked to be in his late 30's and had a brown skin color, long brown hair, featureless lavender eyes, wearing a traditional, loose fitting robes with a long-sleeved, brown haori, and brown slippers. The woman looked to be in her mid 30's and had a fair skin color, featureless lavender eyes, long dark purple hair slightly past her waist and side bangs framing her face down to her shoulders, wearing a long purple sleeved kimono with dark purple trimmings. Their first daughter looked to be about 7 and had fair skin, featureless lavender eyes, dark blue hair that she keeps in a hime cut that is short, kept just above her forehead with 2 chin-length strands framing her face, wearing a white shirt, a zipped up purple jacket with pink inside and sleeves, and blue sandals. Their second and youngest daughter looked to be 2 years old had a brown skin color with blush on her cheeks, featureless lavender eyes, chin length dark brown brown hair, wearing a spring green kimono with white trimmings and a red flower at the center, and green sandals. The male cousin looked to be 9 years old and had fair skin, long dark brown hair, white bandages covering his forehead, featureless lavender eyes, blue kimono with dark blue trimmings, and dark blue sandals. The man was called Hiashi, the woman was called Amai, their oldest daughter was Hinata, their youngest was Hanabi, and their nephew was Neji. Hiashi and Neji were talking to each other while Amai and Hanabi were talking to Hinata. They were from the Hyuga clan.

Karin looked more and saw another one. The woman looked to be in her late 20's and had light brown skin, long spiky untamed brown hair, vertical slit-like pupils, elongated canine teeth and nails, clan fang markings on her cheeks as well as markings over her eyes and a dark shade of purple lipstick, wearing a flak jacket and a black suit underneath with the sleeves rolled up and bandages around her legs, and dark blue sandals. The older child, a daughter looked to be about 10 years old and had light brown skin, long brown hair which she wears in a ponytail with two locks of hair framing her face, large black eyes, a light shade of lipstick and has the traditional fang-like tattoos of the Inuzuka clan on both of her cheeks, in addition to a tattoo on her upper right arm that resembles a flower, wearing an orange high collared zipped up shirt, yellow shorts, and blue sandals. The youngest, a son looked to be 7 years old and had brown skin, short messy brown hair, sharp black eyes with vertical slit-like pupils, pronounced canine teeth, and nails that he can change into claws. He also has the distinctive red fang markings of the Inuzuka clan on his cheeks, wearing a short sleeved green shirt that had picture of a dog's face on the front with red out linings on the sleeves and collar, long blueish-gray pants, and brown sandals. She noticed a tiny dog on top of the boy's head, having white fur with the fur on top of his head is styled to somewhat resemble a mohawk, squinted eyes which appeared closed, brown nose, as well as brown patches on his ears and a brown outline around his mouth. The woman was called Tsume, daughter was named Hana, the son was called Kiba, and the tiny dog was called Akamaru.

Karin saw another family near the Inuzuka clan. The man looked to be in his early 30's and had light tan skin, long ash blond hair reaching into his back, which he wore spiky on top and ending in a long ponytail, blue-green eyes and strong facial features, which included a well defined jaw line, wearing aflak jacket over a black outfit, complete with hand-guards, forehead protector and a sleeveless red hoari, and black sandals. The woman looked to be in her early 30's and had fair skin, and slight wrinkles are visible near her mouth, light brown eyes without pupils, and brown hair which is tied into a bun with a red ribbon in it, wearing a dark teal elegant dress, which sports an aquamarine coloured gem below the collar, and dark green sandals. Their daughter looked to be 7 years old and had fair skin, blue eyes, pale-blonde hair that was at a chin length and had a blue hair clip on the left side of it, wearing a long sleeved pink dress that had red outlines at the end of the sleeves and the collar, purple cloth that was wrapped around her waist, and pale violet sandals that almost reached her upper leg. The man was named Inoichi, the woman was called Ayame, and their daughter was named Ino. They were from the Yamanaka clan. Inoichi was kneeling down and talking to Ino while Ayame happily watched them.

Karin turned again and saw another family. The man looked to be in his early 30's and had brown skin, very spiky short black hair and a moustache, dark glasses which feature a single tassel hanging down from one-side, a high collared beige jacket, long black pants, gray sandals, and carrying a gourd on his back that is used for holding more kikaichū. His son looked to be 8 years old and had fair skin, dark, bushy, brown hair, black narrow eyes but hides them under his black sunglasses, wearing a long beige hooded jacket, a gray high collared shirt shirt with red buttons going down the center, long green pants, and dark gray sandals. The man was named Shibi and the son was named Shino. They were from the Aburame clan. They had their hands in their pockets while looking around at everyone her.

Karin spotted Fugaku talking to a male ninja, who looked to be in his mid 30's and had brown skin, plump with a small dark brown goatee, wearing the Konoha flak jacket and the forehead protector as a bandanna, while Sasuke was beside them listening. She noticed that sad expression on Sasuke's face.

 _"Why is Sasuke so sad?"_ Karin thought worriedly.

Karin turned again and spotted Itachi talking to an unknown boy far away where the trees were, he looked to be in his mid teens and had fair skin, short, unkempt, black coloured hair, black eyes and a relatively broad nose and well-defined eyelashes, that were turns upwards at each end, wearing a dark blue Konoha forehead protector, a dark gray high collared short sleeved shirt, long black pants, and black sandals. She noticed that they were talking about something important as their faces were serious.

 _"Who is Itachi talking to?"_ Karin thought curiously.

"Karin." a female voice said.

Karin was pushed out of her thoughts and looked up to see her mother smiling down at her.

"Can you go over to your Uncle Minato for a minute while me, your Aunt Kushina, and Mikoto go somewhere for awhile?" Uzume asked her daughter.

Karin looked over at her Uncle Minato and cousin Naruto as Minato happily talking to the former Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, has light brown skin, gray hair, a small gray goatee, his face is gaunter, and he has the wrinkles and liver spots of old age, wearing a white haori with red letters written on the back was the kanji for "fire" (火, _hi_ ), full-length kimono that is tied using a white sash, and white sandals, and his wife, Biwako Sarutobi, had light brown skin, slightly visible creases at the corners of her eyes and her mouth, long, brown hair which she kept in a high ponytail, wearing a purple kimono-like dress, along with a white haori and sandals.

Karin looked up at her mother again. "Okay, Mommy." she said, before walking over to her Uncle and cousin.

Karin glanced back one more time at her mother, her Aunt, and Mikoto, who are all happily walking away, before turning around and continued walking. She saw and heard Hiruzen and Biwako say their goodbyes before walking somewhere else before she even arrived. Minato and Naruto turned and looked at Karin.

"Karin, where is your Mom?" Minato asked, now looking around.

"She went with Aunt Kushina and Mikoto somewhere, but she said they will be back soon." Karin said.

"Oh." Minato said, looking down at her.

Karin gasped a little as she sensed a familiar chakra coming near them, she turned around and saw Sasuke walking towards them.

"Hi, Karin." Sasuke said smiling.

"Um, hello to you too, S-sasuke." Karin said shyly, putting her hands together.

Sasuke stopped in front of them. "Looks like me and you will be in the same class tomorrow." Sasuke said.

"H-hai." Karin said softly, looking down and lightly blushing.

"I will be in the same class too, dattebayo!" Naruto said.

"I don't care if you're in there or not." Sasuke said now having a annoyed looked on his face, putting his right hand on his right hip. "Usuratonkachi."

Naruto and Sasuke were now glaring at each other while Karin looked sadly at the scene.

 _"Will they ever get along?"_ Karin thought.

Minato crouched down behind Naruto and nervously smiled, then put his right hand on his right shoulder. "At least will you try to be friends with my son, Naruto?" he asked.

Naruto and Sasuke continued to glare at one another. "No!" they both said at the same time.

 _"That will never work, Uncle Minato."_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin suddenly sensed another familiar chakra coming towards them, she looked to see Fugaku walking to them.

"Oh, Lord Hokage..." Fugaku said, now standing behind his son.

Everyone especially Sasuke looked up at Fugaku.

"Hello." Minato said, then stopped crouching down and stood up straight.

"Let's see... Rather than a friend..." Fugaku said then folded his arms. Sasuke looked at Naruto. "My Sasuke will grow up to be a fine rival for your son." then he gave him a stern look.

Minato just smiled. Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other again.

* * *

Later that day.

Karin was walking with her mother and her cousin Naruto back to the Uzumaki clan compound after the ceremony ended. Minato was still back at the Hokage Mansion doing work. Karin was thinking about they said goodbye to the Uchiha family when her mother said something, pushing her out of her thoughts.

"Karin-sweetie." Uzume said.

Karin looked up at her. "Yes, Mommy?" she asked.

"We're going to have visitors at our house." Uzume said smiling.

"Huh? Who are the visitors, Mommy?" Karin asked her mother confused.

"She's an old friend and Sensei." Uzume said.

"Oh." Karin said.

As they were getting closer, Karin sensed 3 unknown chakras in the Uzumaki compound with her Aunt Kushina near them, one was very powerful, second one was strong but it wasn't powerful like her mother's or her Aunt Kushina's, and the third one was a pig's chakra.

 _"I wonder what they look like?"_ Karin thought.

It took them a few minutes but they finally made it to the Uzumaki clan compound and entered through the gates then to Ryo and Uzume's house. When they arrived there they saw Kushina happily talking to 2 unknown women.

"Aunt Uzume, who are those 2 women next to Mom?" Naruto asked looking up at her.

"They are me and your mother's Sensei and friend." Uzume said.

They stopped a few feet away from them and Kushina and the 2 unknown women stopped talking to look at them.

"Hello Uzume." one of the unknown women greeted, smiling.

"It's so nice to see you too." Uzume greeted back smiling.

"What are you 2 doing here?" Kushina asked.

"We came to visit before we travel again." one of the women said.

Karin looked curiously at the 2 women. One looked young and has fair skin, straight, blonde hair that reached her lower back as she usually keeps tied in two loose ponytails with bangs that reached a shoulder length, brown eyes, a violet diamond shape on her forehead, wearing a grey, kimono-style blouse that exposed her large breasts with no sleeves, held closed by a broad, dark bluish-grey obi, a grass-green haori with the kanji for "gamble" (賭, _kake_ ) written on the back, inside a red circle, long dark bluish-grey pants, open-toed, strappy black sandals with high heels, red polish on both her fingernails and toenails and uses a soft pink lipstick, and a dark green rectangular stone necklace, also carrying a brown bag on her left shoulder. The 2 woman looked to be in her early 20's and has fair skin, straight black hair that reached a shoulder length with bangs that cover her ears and frame her face, black eyes, wearing a long bluish-black kimono with white trimmings, held closed by a white obi, and black open-toed sandals with low heels, holding a pink pig, that had squinted eyes and was wearing cream colored pearl necklace on her neck and a red vest.

The blonde haired woman turned her attention to Karin. "So she's your daughter you've been telling me about?" she asked.

Karin quickly hid behind her mother when the blonde lady looked at her.

"And this must be you and Minato's son, Naruto right?" the blonde lady asked.

"Right." Kushina said.

"Karin don't be shy." Uzume said softly, looking behind her.

Karin slowly poked her head out to see the 2 women again.

"Sweetie, this is my and your Aunt's Sensei, Tsunade." Uzume said.

The blonde one waved her right hand at Karin.

"And our friend Shizune and their female pig, Tonton." Uzume said.

"It's nice to meet you." the black haired one said.

"Oink!" The pig pig said.

"It's nice to meet you all, too." Karin said, smiling shyly.

* * *

Inside the house.

Sunset.

Karin was sitting on one of the couches with Naruto on the left side of her. She had her hands together as she stared down at them. Tsunade and Shizune were sitting on another couch, waiting patiently for Uzume and Kushina to finish making dinner and the tea.

Karin was pushed out of her thoughts when she heard Tsunade's voice.

"Hey." Tsunade said.

Naruto and Karin looked at Tsunade.

"Do you 2 want to see pictures of your mothers when we were traveling?" Tsunade said.

"H-hai." Karin said.

"Our Moms never told us they traveled with you." Naruto said.

Naruto and Karin stood up from the couch and walked over to the other couch where Tsunade and Shizune are sitting. Shizune scooted over to the end so that Naruto and Karin were sitting in between her Tsunade. Karin sat next to Tsunade and Naruto sat next to Shizune. Tsunade rummaged through her bag with her right hand and pulled out a medium sized cream colored photo album.

"So um... what was my Mommy like as a child?" Karin asked.

"Well she was a great kunoichi during her time, she was known as the 'Sweet Silent Cherry' because of her hair and knows how to easily trick people while being nice." Tsunade said. "She's also a wonderful prodigy who immediately learned all of the techniques I taught her."

Karin stared at Tsunade in amazement as she explained what her mother was like.

"What was my Mom like?" Naruto asked.

"Unlike your Aunt, she was tomboyish and was not very good at studying and taking written tests, but she very was skilled in Fuinjutsus and the Uzumaki clan techniques." Tsunade said then suddenly smirked. "But she also proved to be a strong and fierce barehanded fighter, earning her the nickname the 'Red Hot-Blooded Habanero' because she beat many boys half to death."

Naruto's face now had a scared expression on his face after hearing about his mother. Karin's face showed half frightened and half calm expression, a part of was scared to see her Aunt Kushina mad but the other part of her wasn't scared.

Tsunade opened the photo album and set it in between Naruto and Karin so they can look at it. "Here are both your mothers when they are kids." she said pointing with her left hand at the first page.

Naruto and Karin looked down and saw girls smiling forward. Uzume looked to be 15 and straight shoulder length red hair, blue eyes with no pupils, fair skin, wearing an orange dress that reached her knees and had the Uzumaki crest on the back, blue forehead protector on her forehead, dark blue sandals, a black shuriken holster on her left knee, and a medium sized silver pouch around her midsection. Kushina looked to be 12 years old and had fair skin, a round face, straight bright red hair that reached her waist, blue forehead protector on her forehead, wearing a tan kimono-like blouse with a black embroidered border, held closed with a black obi, a black short skirt and stockings that stopped at her thighs, and dark brown sandals.

"Mommy and Aunt Kushina were really pretty." Karin said softly smiling.

"This is a similar photo in one of my Mom's photo albums." Naruto said.

Naruto and Karin looked at the second page saw Kushina, who looked to be 10 years old and was wearing a sleeveless kimono-style blouse that was yellow in colour and held closed with a green obi over a short-sleeved mesh shirt with a pair of dark blue shorts and brown shinobi sandals. She was holding up her index finger and middle finger of her right hand.

"That was the day that Uzume graduated from the Academy." Tsunade said.

"Amazing." Karin said her face astounded, almost a whisper.

"Cool!" Naruto said smiling widely.

Naruto and Karin continued to turn pages and saw more of their mothers and even Tsunade and Shizune. Karin turned around page and saw a young woman that was neither her mother nor her Aunt. She had fair skin, long bright red hair, large black pupiless eyes, her hair was in buns with hair pins in them and three golden clips in the front, she also wore a dark shade of red lipstick and had a purple rhombus on her forehead, tags with kanji written on them in her hair decals, a golden crown on top of her head, wearing an elaborate, high-collared kimono with the Uzushiogakure symbol on the back of the obi which was tied around her waist, and light brown sandals. Karin saw the picture was beige with age and it had a name on the lower left side saying 'Mito'. And they looked at another photo that had their mothers when were 13 and 10 years and an old woman had fair skin, bright red hair that was in large black pupiless eyes, two buns in her hair and most that flowed down to her waist, a faded purple rhombus on her forehead, wearing a simple loose fitting kimono held closed by a simple dark-coloured obi. Uzume was on the left side, Mito was in the middle, and Kushina was on the right side. The bottom of the picture said 'Kushina, Mito, and Uzume'.

Karin was about to turn another page with her right hand until she heard her Aunt's voice calling to them.

"Dinner is ready you guys." Kushina said coming into the room then suddenly noticed that Naruto and Karin were looking through an old photo album. "What are you 2 looking at?" she asked.

Naruto and Karin looked up at Kushina. "At you and Mommy's childhood photos." Karin said.

"Oh, that's nice." Kushina said smiling. "We've made dinner."

...

A few hours later.

Kushina and Naruto went home after they finished eating dinner while Tsunade, Shizune, and Tonton went travel again.

Uzume was tucking Karin, in her new night clothes, a light brown nightgown with blue outlines, into bed.

"Um, Mommy." Karin said.

"Yes sweetie." Uzume said softly, looking at her.

"What clan is Tsunade from?" Karin asked curiously.

Uzume sat down on the right side of the bed, close to her daughter. "Well she comes from the Senju clan but also the Uzumaki clan."

"Huh?" Karin asked confused.

"Tsunade is ¾ Senju and 1/4 Uzumaki, her grandmother was Mito Uzumaki." Uzume explained. "My and your Aunt know Mito, who sadly passed away when we were young."

"Who is Mito Uzumaki?" Karin asked.

"She was a powerful kunoichi from our clan and the First Hokage's wife, she was from Uzushiogakure." Uzume said.

"Uzushiogakure?" Karin asked.

"Sorry I forgot to tell you that the Uzumaki clan originally came from Uzushiogakure but we've decided to move to Konohagakure but some moved somewhere else." Uzume said. "Even our family crest is on the back of the Konoha flak jackets because we are close allies."

"But why did we have to move?" Karin asked.

Uzume just put her hands around her daughter. "I'll tell you some other time okay sweetie." she said hugging. "You have your first day at the Academy tomorrow."

"Okay, Mommy." Karin said smiling, hugging her mother back.

They soon pulled away from the hug and Uzume took her daughter's glasses off and put them on the nightstand then finished tucking Karin into bed before kissing her goodnight on her forehead. Uzume exited the room.

* * *

Morning.

Karin, in her usual outfit, was sitting next to a table with her eyes closed and hands together as she was praying to her father's picture while waiting patiently for her cousin to come so they can walk to the Academy together. Her mother couldn't walk her there because she was the Uzumaki clan leader and that means she was busy.

When Karin was done praying, she opened her eyes and separated her hands. She suddenly sensed Naruto approaching her house, she stood up from the floor and walked to the main shoji doors. There was a knock at the door and Karin opened one of them with her right hand, revealing Naruto, in his usual outfit, holding a white clothed wrapped bento box with the Uzumaki crest on it with right hand.

"Good morning, Karin." Naruto said smiling.

"Good morning to you too, Oniisan." Karin said smiling back softly. "Where is Aunt Kushina?"

"She's at the office with Dad." Naruto said stepping a little inside. "Are you ready?"

"In a minute." Karin said, turning around.

Karin went to the couch and grabbed her cream colored wrapped bento box that had the Uzumaki crest on it with both hands then headed to the table.

Karin stopped and closed her eyes. "I'm going, Daddy." she said bowing her head to the picture. She opened her eyes as she stopped bowing her head and looked at Naruto. "Okay Oniisan, I'm ready."

"Alright." Naruto said.

Karin walked over to the shoji doors then suddenly stopped when she heard her mother's voice.

"Karin-sweetie." Uzume said.

Karin turned her head and and saw her mother standing at the living room door smiling.

"Have a nice day." Uzume said.

"Okay, Mommy." Karin said smiling back.

"And you too, Naruto." Uzume said, turning her head towards him.

"Sure." Naruto said smiling.

Naruto and Karin walked out the door with Karin sliding one of the doors closed with her right hand. They walked from the house to exit the Uzumaki clan compound to the Academy. As Naruto and Karin continued walking, Naruto started to say something.

"Hey, Karin." Naruto said.

Karin turned her head to the left to look at Naruto. "Yes Oniisan?" she asked.

"I'm going to pull off a great prank today." Naruto said smirking.

"Huh?" Karin asked.

"It's going to be in the classroom and it will be for the teacher." Naruto said.

"But Oniisan, Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina will be upset if you do that." Karin said.

"Not if I don't get caught." Naruto said. "A real prankster would never get caught." then started laughing.

Karin was about to say something else to Naruto when she suddenly sensed a familiar chakra coming towards them from the back.

"Karin!" a boy's voice called out.

Karin turned her head to the right to see Sasuke, in his usual outfit and carrying a cream colored clothed wrapped bento box that had the Uchiha crest on it with his left hand, running towards them smiling at her. Naruto and Karin both stopped in their tracks.

"Oh no, it's him." Naruto said annoyed. "Dattebayo."

Karin watched as Sasuke ran closer to them.

"Uh Karin." Naruto said.

Karin turned her head back to Naruto. "Yes." she asked.

"I'm going on ahead to prepare for my prank, I'll see you later." Naruto said before running forward.

Karin was about to call him back until Sasuke finally made it to her and stopped next to her. "Hello, Karin." he greeted. "It's nice to see you again."

Karin lightly blushed and turned her head to the left side. "Um, It's nice to see you too, Sasuke." she said softly.

Sasuke and Karin walked again as they made their way to the Academy. Karin looked at Sasuke, who was still staring at her smiling.

"Karin?" Sasuke asked.

"Y-yes um, Sasuke?" Karin asked softly.

"Would you like to sit together at lunch time?" Sasuke asked smiling.

Karin's eyes widened and blushed lightly at Sasuke's offer but suddenly remembered something, then her eyes unwidened. "U-um, are you sure you want to sit with me?" she asked shyly, turning away from him. "You probably want to sit someone else."

"No." Sasuke said.

Karin turned her head back to Sasuke. "Huh?" she asked shyly, surprised.

"I only want to sit with you, Karin." Sasuke said smiling.

Karin now blushed furiously and turned her head away from him again, making Sasuke a little confused. After awhile as they continued walking, Karin's blush lessened until it was her natural fair skin again then they both turned forward. They were a few feet away from the Academy as they could see many students going into the building and many parents and some older and younger siblings saying 'goodbye' to them for awhile.

"Hey Karin?" Sasuke said turning his head towards her.

"Um yes Sasuke?" Karin asked shyly, looking at him.

"Why did Naruto ran on to the Academy without you?" Sasuke asked.

Karin put her hands together. "Oniisan said that he was going to pull a prank in the classroom for the teacher." she said.

"Hn, that's stupid." Sasuke said.

Sasuke and Karin continued to walk as they made it to the open entrance and stepped inside. While they were walking they noticed many students, teachers, and new genin. Karin's eyes widened and slightly gasped as she was looking at their forehead.

"Don't worry." Sasuke said.

Karin stopped staring at them and looked at Sasuke, who was staring at her smiling.

"We'll be genin very soon." Sasuke said.

 _"You would be but I'm not sure about myself."_ Karin thought sadly.

Sasuke and Karin stopped walking as they finally made it to a greenish grey metal door. Karin sensed Naruto's chakra inside the room. Sasuke slid it open with his right hand and stepped aside to let Karin in first. Karin said 'thank you' to Sasuke before walking in and Sasuke walked in behind and slid the the door closed. They looked around the room to see it had light green walls with some brown wood sticking halfway out of the it, some white papers that each had little information about the Academy were posted on each of the 4 walls, large triangular windows that covers most of the left side of the classroom, high ceiling. The front of the classroom had a big black board that had few chalk pieces on the holder, a brown wooden podium in front of it brown wooden flooring, from the middle to the back of the had light brown wooden lecture desks that went from the back to front it went top to bottom. They also saw dark brown medium sized compartments lined up at the back of the room that stopped at near both sides of the room.

They saw half the desks were filled up with students who are joining the Ninja Academy just like Sasuke and Karin is, but some of the students were sitting on top of the desks. The 9 desks were arranged in a 4 by 3 rows. Karin stepped towards the third compartment from the room and put her cloth wrapped bento box down at the bottom of it before going down the stairs then sat in the first seat at the second desks of the second row, while Sasuke walked and placed his clothed wrapped bento box in the fourth compartment and followed after Karin. A few seconds after Karin sat down she noticed and looked to the right to see Sasuke sitting down in the seat beside.

Sasuke turned to Karin and smiled at her, making Karin blush and turn her head to the other side. Karin put her hands together in her lap and stopped blushing and looked forward to see Naruto taking a board eraser from the board.

 _"What kind of prank do you plan on doing that involves that eraser, Oniisan?"_ Karin thought curiously and confused.

"Whatever he's planning, it's going to fail." Sasuke said having a serious face, his elbows on the desk and fingers tangled together.

Karin then heard gasping and giggling sounds then turned to the left to see Sakura, in her usual outfit, Ino, in her usual outfit, and a few other girls looking lovestruck.

"Aww, Sasuke-kun is so amazing." Sakura said, hearts in her eyes.

"Yeah." Ino said, having sparkles in her eyes.

Karin looked back at Sasuke to see that he paid no attention to the girls that were adoring him, making her confused. She suddenly thought of something, she turned her head to Sasuke.

"Um, Sasuke?" Karin said softly and shyly.

Sasuke turned his head to Karin and looked curiously at her. "What is it?" he asked.

"Do you know that man who was talking to Itachi yesterday?" Karin asked softly. "He had on the Uchiha crest."

"Oh, that was Shisui." Sasuke said.

"Shisui?" Karin asked confused.

"He's me and Big Brother's friend from our clan, he taught me many jutsus." Sasuke said.

"Oh." Karin said.

...

19 minutes later.

As time has passed, many students were coming into the classroom and sitting down while some of them chatted with friends or sat quietly for the teacher to arrive in the room. Karin watched Naruto grin as he put his prank into place, seeing him out the eraser on top of another door while standing on a nearby chair then when he was done he stepped backwards just a few feet away from the door.

Karin suddenly sensed a chakra coming to the classroom, knowing it was the teacher approaching.

"He's coming." Karin said to Sasuke.

Sasuke put his right hand on the right side of his face and laid his left hand on the desk, having a annoyed look on his face. "Great." he said, now looking at the door.

Then the door opened up to reveal a man holding 2 light brown books in his right hand, the eraser fell inches away from him. The man looked down at the eraser then at Naruto annoyed, who was smiling at him, for a few seconds then turned to the left, looking at us.

"Who did this?" the man asked.

 _"Seriously?!"_ Karin thought sadly.

Nobody said a word.

"Of all the juvenile pranks!" the man said looking at Naruto again.

Naruto laughed as he closed his eyes.

The man stepped forward but he suddenly slipped on some grease on the floor, the books falling out of his hands and on the floor. He looked at Naruto angrily.

 _"Huh? When did he?"_ Karin thought surprised.

Naruto laughed at him. "I got you! That eraser was nothing but a decoy and you totally fell for it too!" he said pointing at him.

"Naruto!"the man said angrily, getting up from the ground.

Naruto stopped pointing and just smiled at the man.

 _"Oh no! Oniisan is going to get punished and yelled at by our new teacher."_ Karin thought worriedly.

Seconds passed and still nothing until the the man said something.

"Naruto." the man said.

Naruto put his hands behind his head and walked towards the exit. "Yeah I know, go stand in the hallway." he said then put his hands down.

"No." the man said.

Naruto stopped and looked at him.

"Go and take your seat." the man said.

 _"That's strange. Students usually get punished if they pull a prank."_ Karin thought confused.

Naruto started walking to the first seat in the third desks in the third row. "This place is so boring." he said then sat down.

 _"But weren't you excited that you were attending the Academy when we were told by my Mommy, Uncle Minato, and Aunt Kushina?"_ Karin thought, turning her head around to look at Naruto.

Karin turned her head forward to look at the teacher again. She noticed that he looked to be in his early 20's and had brown skin, black eyes, dark brown hair that was in a short ponytail, a scar running across his nose, wearing the Konoha flak jacket uniform and blue clothed wrapped forehead protector, and dark grey sandals. She watched as he walked to the podium then stood in front of it facing them. The man put his books down on the podium and put his hands on each side of it.

"Good morning, first allow me to introduce myself. Starting today I'll be your new home room teacher, Iruka Umino." the man said smiling.

 _"That's great."_ Karin thought smiling softly.

"My favorite food is Ichiraku Ramen and my least favorite food is mixed rice, I was born on May 26." Iruka said.

As everyone listened to Iruka was saying, Karin looked behind her to see Naruto was getting sad.

 _"Why is Oniisan like this all of a sudden?"_ Karin thought worriedly.

* * *

Later.

Iruka passed books out to all the students so they could read silently along with him. Karin was reading with both hands holding both sides and paying attention but she glanced at Sasuke to see that he had his right hand on the right side of face while looking out the window.

 _"Maybe Sasuke already knows this information like I do if he's doing that?"_ Karin thought.

Karin suddenly heard snoring and looked behind her to see Naruto was sleeping with his head on the desk.

 _"'Oniisan is going to get in trouble."_ Karin thought worriedly.

She turned back to see Iruka walking up the stairs towards the sleeping Naruto. She saw mostly everyone was now looking at the 2 then watched as Iruka raised the book to hit Naruto on the head with it.

 _"P-please don't... don't hit Oniisan!"_ Karin thought sadly.

After a moment it didn't happen instead he lowered the book.

Karin softly sighed and closing her eyes. _"Thank goodness."_ she thought.

Karin opened her eyes again.

Naruto suddenly woke up. "Hold on, Sensei isn't it already time for class to be over?" he asked looking at Iruka.

 _"Huh? But he just started teaching an hour ago."_ Karin thought confused.

"What?" Iruka asked confused.

"Just look, see for yourself." Naruto said pointing with his right hand forward. Iruka looked forward to see.

Karin looked at the clock, which had 10:00 on it. _"But.. how can that be the right time?"_ she thought confused. _"I also sense that Oniisan was lying."_

"Huh I didn't realize it was so late." Iruka said before walking down the stairs then he stopped and turned his head to us. "Well then that's everything for today I'll see you tomorrow." then continued walking towards the door and opened it with his right hand and stepped out, closing the door behind him. Karin knew that Iruka was faking it because she sensed that he was lying.

"Oniisan, why?" Karin whispered, closing her eyes.

"You already know." Sasuke said.

Karin opened her eyes and looked at Sasuke, who has his eyes closed. "Huh?" she asked.

"He's going to be pulling pranks everyday." Sasuke said, then opened his and looked at Karin. "It's how he is."

Karin now had a sad look as she watched Naruto get up from his seat and climb on the desk to change the clock to its original time with his right hand.

Naruto laughed. "I knew he'd fall for that old trick that makes prank number 3." Naruto said.

 _"I knew that clock had the wrong time."_ Karin thought.

Karin turned to the door as she suddenly sensed Iruka coming back to the classroom. The door slid opened up to reveal Iruka, Naruto looked at the door and lost his balance then fell backwards on to the floor. Iruka stepped in and closed the door behind him before walking over to Naruto.

Naruto looked up and saw Iruka staring at him. "Uh, boy that smarts but how did you figure it out so quickly?" he asked.

"Just return to your seat and we'll continue." Iruka said, giving him a mean look.

Naruto was surprised for a moment but after a few seconds he looked down at the floor sadly. Karin watched Naruto with sad and worried eyes.

 _"Poor Oniisan."_ Karin thought sadly.

* * *

56 minutes later.

"Everyone stop." Iruka said, closing the his book.

All the students looked at him.

"Close your books and follow me, we're going outside." Iruka said smiling walking to the door and slid with his right hand and walked into the hallway.

Everyone closed their books and walked down the stairs and into the hallway. As they were following Iruka, Karin looked worriedly at Naruto, who had a blank look on his face.

 _"Oniisan.. I wonder what you're thinking right now?"_ Karin thought, putting her hands together near her chest.

"Karin." a voice said.

Karin snapped out of her thoughts and looked to the left to see Sasuke staring at her concerned.

"U-um yes Sasuke." Karin said shyly, stuttering a little.

"What's wrong, you look sad? Sasuke asked.

"I'm fine it's just... I'm worried about Oniisan." Karin said shyly.

Sasuke sighed. "He'll be alright, but he's still going to be pulling those idiotic pranks." he said then gave her small smile. "So you don't have to worry that much."

Karin lightly blushed and smiled. "Thank you, Sasuke." she said.

"You're welcome." Sasuke said.

Karin stopped blushing as looked around and saw mostly of the girls glaring at her, especially Ino and Sakura. Karin became scared at all the looks.

 _"I-I wonder why they are staring at me like that? Is it because I talked to Sasuke?"_ Karin thought frightened.

It took them awhile but they finally made it outside. The students were a forming a circle and somestudents were near Iruka. Karin was standing close to Sasuke.

"Alright everyone instead of just introducing yourselves, I want each of you to demonstrate your skills with Ninjutsu." Iruka said.

The students groaned except Karin, Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, and Shino.

 _"Can I really do this? I-I mean know all of the signs and jutsus from Mommy and reading from books. I don't know if I have the courage to do it?"_ Karin thought sadly.

Iruka laughed nervously. "Don't worry you're not going to be graded on this, it's merely to assess where you are on your studies and plan how to proceed with our lessons." he said. "Okay, we'll start off with the basic clone jutsu then, and the first person up." then looked down at the clipboard.

 _"P-please don't choose me first, I-I don't think I'm ready right now."_ Karin thought shyly, putting her hands together and near her chest again.

Iruka looked up from the clipboard. "Uh, is Sasuke Uchiha, wanna give it a shot?" he asked smiling.

All of the girls started cheering for him except Karin and Hinata. Karin could see that the girls had hearts in their eyes.

 _"I-I had no idea they liked Sasuke this much."_ Karin thought.

Karin watched as Sasuke closed his eyes and stepped forward into the circle.

Sasuke opened his eyes, his hands in his pockets. "Hn, using clone jutsu is even easier than child's play." he said.

 _"Sasuke is really confident in his abilities... unlike me..."_ Karin thought.

Karin turned to Naruto as he started to say something angrily.

Naruto groaned and pointed at Sasuke with his right hand. "Why do you always have to act so smug all the time?! It's so annoying!" he yelled.

Sasuke stepped further into the circle and looked at Naruto. "Just shut up, Usuratonkachi." he said.

"Leave Sasuke-kun alone, you'll break his concentration." Sakura said angrily.

"Yeah that's right, you're just in the way loser!" Ino said angrily.

"Aw come on, not you too, Sakura-chan." Naruto said sadly.

 _"W-what are always so mean Oniisan?"_ Karin thought sadly.

Naruto stepped forward a little to see Sasuke make a clone jutsu.

"Okay Sasuke, give it a try." Iruka said.

Sasuke quickly put his hands out of his pockets, he waited a moment as some of the wind blew through his hair then quickly made the clone jutsu hand signs. "Clone jutsu." he said. A clone of Sasuke appeared a few feet away from Sasuke.

Karin noticed something wasn't right. _"I sense both of them are not the real Sasuke."_ she thought. She sensed Sasuke's real chakra was and looked up in the tree to see Sasuke was sitting on one of the branches and looking at her. "Huh?" she asked, putting her hands together and near her chest again.

Sasuke smiled and raised his left index finger to his mouth, meaning he wanted her to be quiet. Karin immediately understood and looked back at Sasuke's 2 shadow clones.

 _"Sasuke created 2 clones without any effort and jumped into the trees without anyone other than me noticing... He's so cool.. and fast..."_ Karin thought astonished.

"Wow." Iruka said.

"Amazing Sasuke-kun it's a perfect clone jutsu, I can't tell which one is real and which one is fake." Sakura said, glancing at one of them.

 _"Neither of them are real."_ Karin thought.

"Oh please!" Naruto said.

Karin looked over at Naruto to that he jumped a few feet from one of the Sasuke clones.

"It's totally obvious to me, this one!" Naruto said, before he kicked one of the clones with his right foot, only to have it disappear.

 _"Please stop, Oniisan."_ Karin thought.

The other Sasuke clone jumped away. "Wrong as usually." he said, a mean look on his face.

Naruto was confused but it turned into anger when he turned around to the other Sasuke clone.

"Blockhead back off that's the real Sasuke!" Sakura yelled.

"Yeah, get away from!" Ino yelled.

 _"That's not the real one."_ Karin thought.

Naruto jumped and kicked again at the Sasuke clone but it disappear, making Naruto fall down to the ground in the process.

"Looks like you picked wrong again." The real Sasuke said sitting up in the tree, then jumped down.

 _"Mommy was right, there are lots of prodigies in the Uchiha clan."_ Karin thought, amazed.

Everyone looked at Sasuke astonished.

"Oh Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said smiling, blushing a little.

"Amazing, 2 clones at once while the real Sasuke moved away unseen." Iruka said.

"So what?! I can do clone jutsu too!" Naruto yelled then made the clone jutsu hand signs. "Watch this, clone jutsu!"

A clone of Naruto suddenly appeared but instead of being exactly like him it was a pale version of him that laid weakly on the floor.

 _"B-but I thought Oniisan would have lots of chakra because he's half Uzumaki. There has to be a mistake."_ Karin thought confused.

Karin suddenly heard laughter, she looked around to see everyone except Sasuke, Shino, and Hinata were all laughing at Naruto. The Naruto clone disappeared shortly after being summoned.

"That kid can't do anything right!" the boy with the bandanna said smiling.

Naruto looked down embarrassed as he gritted his teeth together.

 _"Poor Oniisan."_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin saw Sasuke walk up to Naruto, noticing he had an angry look on his face.

"Listen I don't what your problem is Usuratonkachi, but just stay away from me ya got that." Sasuke said.

"All you're doing is interrupting our lesson, you're wasting the time of everyone here and becoming an annoyance." Shino said.

 _"Oniisan is not annoying."_ Karin thought.

"W-what?" Naruto asked, looking some of the students.

"He's right, you're not just becoming an annoyance that's all you've ever been or will be." the boy with the bandanna said.

"Hey that's cold Hibachi." the boy with the glasses said, then looked at Naruto while folding his hands smiling. "But sometimes the truth hurts."

"What?! Why you!" Naruto yelled and tried to go after the boys, who moved away quickly.

Iruka stepped in front of Naruto and put his hands on his shoulders. "Listen up, stop ganging up on Naruto!" he said, looking some of the students.

Karin sighed relieved and smiled softly.

Naruto looked surprised then smiled as he looked up at Iruka. "Sensei." he said.

Iruka turned around and looked down at Naruto. "Leave him alone, just ignore him." he said, now having a mean look on his face.

Karin's smile suddenly turned into a frown. _"W-what but I-I thought he..."_ she thought sadly.

Naruto now looked at Iruka confused. "Huh?" he asked.

Everyone looked at Naruto for a few moments before Iruka turned around. Naruto looked down sadly at the ground.

"Alright everyone, come on! We still have a class to finish." Iruka said before walking away.

Naruto turned to the right.

"Yes Sensei!" Mostly all of the students said as they followed him. Some of them talked to one another while they are leaving.

Karin stayed where she was and sadly watched Naruto make a fist with his right hand and grit his teeth. _"Oniisan."_ she thought sadly.

Karin walked over to Naruto and stood in front of him. "O-oniisan." she said separating her hands.

Naruto looked at Karin. Karin leaned in and slowly put her hands around Naruto hugging him, making Naruto confused.

"Huh?" Naruto said surprised.

"They are wrong Oniisan, I don't think you're an annoyance I think you're brave and amazing for being yourself." Karin said.

Naruto suddenly smiled and hugged Karin back. "Thanks Karin, but you don't have to worry." he said then pulled back to look at her.

Karin looked at Naruto confused.

"Because in the future, I'm going to become Hokage just like Dad." Naruto said using his signature smile.

Karin was about to say something to Naruto when she looked to the left, sensing a very familiar chakra nearby. "Uncle Minato." she said.

"Huh, Dad?" Naruto said looking in the same direction as Karin.

Minato suddenly appeared a few feet from Naruto and Karin, smiling. "Your sensory skills is getting great everyday, Karin." he said.

"Thank you, Uncle Minato." Karin said.

"I see you still haven't perfected the clone jutsu yet, Naruto." Minato said, walking towards them.

"No." Naruto said turning his head away sadly.

Minato was now next to them and he placed his right hand on top of Naruto's head, causing Naruto to look up at him confused.

"How about I help you how when you're classes are over today, okay." Minato said smiling.

Naruto smiled again. "Okay." he said.

Karin smiled softly at the display before her. _"Thank goodness, Oniisan is smiling again."_ she thought relieved.

...

2 hours and 10 minutes later.

"Okay everybody it's lunch time." Iruka said. "You guys eat outside."

Students started getting up and walking up the stairs to the compartments to get their bento boxes to go outside and eat. Karin stood up from her seat and turned to the left to walk up the stairs while Sasuke was writing something down in the book.

Karin walked over to her compartment through the other students. When she made it in front of it, she grabbed her clothed wrapped bento box with both hands. Karin immediately noticed that her bento box was suddenly really light and it wasn't tied correctly. Karin unwrapped the cloth and opened the bento box to see all of her lunch was eaten.

 _"M-my lunch is gone. W-who could have eaten it?"_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin suddenly heard giggling, she looked up to see some of the girls were smirking and laughing at her. She turned around and looked where Sasuke was to see that he and Naruto were glaring at each other now.

 _"Maybe Oniisan has some extras."_ Karin thought softly then stepped forward with her right foot she was about to take another step until she suddenly thought of something. _"N-no I can't ask Oniisan for some of his lunch he needs it, maybe I can when I get home."_

Karin suddenly heard her stomach growling, knowing that she was really hungry. _"Or.. maybe not."_ she thought sadly.

"Leave me alone, Usuratonkachi." a familiar voice said.

Karin was pushed out of her thoughts as she saw Sasuke closed his book before he stood up and walked to the stairs. Karin remembered that Sasuke had told her that he wanted to eat their lunch together but she couldn't because someone ate her lunch. She stepped backwards and turned forward before throwing her bento box away in the trashcan nearby then slid opened the door and stepped out and slid it closed behind her.

Karin walked down a hallway to the left instead of to the right, which leads outside. She decided to walk to the library to read more books.

 _"Maybe Sasuke has already forgotten about it?"_ Karin thought looking down.

As Karin continued walking through the hallways she sensed another chakra coming towards her. She looked up to see a man, who had fair skin, black hair that was at a shoulder length and was combed back, grey pupiless eyes, wide but built up body, a huge forehead, wearing a grey Konohagakure forehead protector on his forehead, dark brown-grey kimono like shirt with cream outlines, long black pants, a large white rope tied around his waist, black socks, and black sandals, was walking towards her. She could see that he had an angry look on his face, which frightened her. The man was now in front of her, Karin looked up to see that he was looking down at her more angry than before now.

"S-sorry." Karin said shyly.

"All of you Uzumakis are weak." the man said.

"Huh?" Karin asked confused.

"You all are nothing but a disgrace to The Hidden Village." the man said before he continued moving forward. "Should stayed in Uzushiogakure."

The man left, leaving Karin alone in the hallway by herself and tears began forming in her eyes. Karin looked down sadly as she felt tears running down her face, she started to run down the hall until she found a nearby closet. She opened the door and went inside and closed the door behind her. Karin sad down on the floor.

 _"It seems.. me and Oniisan.. are not even wanted here..."_ Karin thought sadly.

* * *

Sasuke was walking up the stairs to his compartment to get his bento box. He passed through some of the students and was now in front of his compartment and grabbed it with his left hand. Sasuke looked around for Karin so they could eat together but he couldn't find the red haired female anywhere. Some of the students started to leave classroom to go outside. Ino walked up to Sasuke, who was still wondering were Karin went off to.

"Sasuke, would you like to have lunch with me?" Ino said smiling.

"No." Sasuke said walking forward.

Ino became sad at Sasuke's rejection.

"Then will you have lunch with me?" the girl with the orange afro said smiling.

Then the girl with the afro was now sad at the rejection too.

"No." Sasuke said again.

Sasuke continued walking to the door and stepped out of the room. He walked through the hallways but still couldn't find Karin, was getting worried.

" _I wonder where Karin went off to?"_ Sasuke thought.

Sasuke went down another and suddenly heard a gasping noise. He turned to the left to see a closet, he walked towards it, he raised his right hand and grabbed the doorknob. He opened it to see Karin sitting on the floor and was looking down at the floor sadly.

"Karin." Sasuke said relieved.

Karin looked up at Sasuke. "S-sasuke." she said.

"What are you doing in here Karin and where is your lunch?" Sasuke asked.

Karin looked down sadly. "Someone ate my lunch." she said.

"Huh?" Sasuke asked.

"I don't know who ate it all, it was empty when I found it." Karin said sadly.

Sasuke stepped more into the closet and crouched down next to Karin. "Then we can share my lunch." he said softly smiling.

Karin looked at Sasuke again. "B-but you need it." she said.

"I have plenty to share." Sasuke said.

"I-I not hung-" Karin was cut off when her stomach started to growl again, making her blush.

"It seems you are hungry." Sasuke said smiling more.

Karin turned her head away, a little embarrassed.

Sasuke stood up and held out his right hand. "Let's go eat outside together." he said.

Karin looked up at him again for a moment before she slowly raised her left hand to grab Sasuke's right hand. When Karin grabbed it, Sasuke carefully pulled Karin up to her feet. Karin blushed softly.

"Let's go." Sasuke said before walked out of the closet with Karin.

"H-hai." Karin said shyly.

* * *

Sasuke and Karin were sitting on one of the benches, away from the other students so they could eat in peace. Sasuke opened his bento box with his right hand as he held it with his left hand.

Sasuke put the top of the bento box in between them. "Here you choose first." he said smiling, showing Karin the insides of the box.

"T-thank you." Karin said then looked down and saw many Onigiri, Kyaraben, fish, and other foods in the bento box.

Karin reached with her right hand and pulled out one of the Onigiri then softly took a bite. Sasuke used his right hand and pulled out a Onigiri too. As Karin was eating, she looked up to see Sasuke was smiling at her.

Karin blushed softly and looked away from Sasuke. "I-It's delicious." she said shyly.

"My Mother made them." Sasuke said then took a bite out of his Onigiri.

"It was great that you can make 2 clones and seek away without being seen." Karin said.

"Thanks, I've been practicing with Niisan and Shisui sometimes." Sasuke said.

"Oh." Karin said.

Sasuke and Karin talked more while they are from Sasuke's bento box.

* * *

Afternoon.

Karin was walking back home to the Uzumaki clan compound while Naruto was with Minato and Sasuke went home to the Uchiha clan compound. She was thinking about Sasuke, his skills, his warm smile, blushing lightly.

 _Flashback._

 _"We can eat here again tomorrow okay." Sasuke said smiling._

 _"H-hai." Karin said shyly._

Flashback over.

Karin looked down as she smiled to herself. _"Sasuke... is really kind..."_ she thought.

As Karin made it to the Uzumaki clan compound, she looked up to see her mother standing next to the gate smiling.

"Welcome back Karin, I've been waiting for you." Uzume said.

"It's nice to see you too, Mommy." Karin said.

Karin was now in front of her mother, looking up at her curiously. Uzume looked down at her daughter.

"Sweetie, I'm going to be teaching you the abilities I know, starting right now." Uzume said.

"Really?" Karin said surprised.

"Of course Karin, I'm going to teach you about the history of Uzumaki clan." Uzume said.

"This is amazing." Karin said smiling brightly.

"Let me show you where the books are." Uzume said before turning around and walked towards her house.

Karin followed after her mother. As they walked together, Uzume felt this sudden pain in her body but didn't show it only a smile on her face, not yet wanting to tell people about her deadly illness.

* * *

End of Chapter 4.

Please review.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5.

Please review.

* * *

1 month later.

Daytime.

Uzume, in her usual outfit, standing in her backyard and was watching Karin, now 8 years old and in her usual outfit, sitting in the seiza position and a wooden pail on the left of her and a small wooden desk in front of her. Karin's hands were on a dead fish as she was focusing her chakra, trying to send some of it into the fish. Her mother was teaching her the Mystical Palm technique after she master knowing the history of the Uzumaki clan, reading a lot of information about for the future, and many more.

"You're doing wonderful, Karin." Uzume said smiling. "Just a little more."

Karin gasped as she now saw a green glow coming from her hands and on to the dead fish. Less than a minute later, the fish flopped around as it was now alive again. Karin stopped healing the fish and the green glow disappeared, she smiled to herself.

"Good job, sweetie." Uzume said to her daughter. "You're a fast learner."

Karin turned her head around to look at her mother. "Thank you, Mommy." she said then turned back around and picked up the fish and carefully put it in the pail.

Uzume and Karin suddenly sensed Kushina and Naruto coming towards their house. Uzume walked to the shoji doors and opened one of them up with her right hand and stepped in, Karin stood up and walked to the shoji doors as well and entered the house too and closed the door behind her.

Uzume walked to the other shoji door and opened it up to reveal Kushina, in her usual outfit, and Naruto, in his new usual outfit, a black short sleeved shirt with the Uzumaki crest on the front, light grey shorts with a blue stripe on each outer side, and blue sandals. They were both smiling back at them.

"Hello, Onee-chan." Kushina said.

"Hi, Aunt Uzume." Naruto said.

"Hello to you, too Kushina." Uzume said smiling back.

"Onee-chan, I need to talk to you about something." Kushina said.

"Okay." Uzume said before she turned around. "Karin."

"Yes, Mommy." Karin said stopping next to her on the right.

"Can you and your Cousin Naruto go play outside while me and your Aunt Kushina talk for awhile?" Uzume asked.

"Hai." Karin said, then walked to the shoji doors again.

Naruto stepped in and took off his sandals at the door and followed Karin. Karin slid one of the shoji doors open with her right hand and stepped out, Naruto closed the door behind them.

Uzume walked over to one of the couches while Kushina took off her sandals before following her. Uzume sat on the couches and Kushina sat on the other side of her big sister.

Uzume turned back to her younger sister. "So what did you want to talk about Kushina?" she asked.

"Well, I have new information on the mission that I was assigned to yesterday." Kushina said.

"That's wonderful." Uzume said.

"I will be starting it tomorrow afternoon." Kushina said. "But something about it doesn't quite-"

As Kushina continued talking about her mission, Uzume suddenly felt dizzy and a pain in her body mostly her chest. Uzume clutched her chest with her right hand as she closed her eyes tightly and started coughing.

"Onee-chan, What's wrong?!" Kushina said, putting both her hands on Uzume's shoulders. "Onee-chan?!"

Uzume suddenly blacked out and Kushina's voice faded away.

* * *

Uzume's eyes slowly opened and she looked around to see that she was in her room, she noticed that she was lying under the blanket on her bed. She looked looked to the right to see Kushina and Naruto were standing and staring at her sadly.

"Onee-chan." Kushina said.

"Mommy." a voice said.

Uzume slowly turned her head to the left and saw Karin standing and staring at her sad and worried as she had tears running down her face.

Karin climbed onto the bed. "I'm so glad you're awake, Mommy." she said leaning down and hugged her mother carefully.

Uzume smiled warmly at her daughter. "It's alright, Karin. I'm okay." she lied.

 _"So.. this must be more side effects of the virus.."_ Uzume thought.

Karin pulled back a little so she can see her mother's face, tears still running down her face. "B-but why you faint?" she asked.

Uzume slowly sat up. "I was really tired because of various work, but I'm fine now. You don't have to worry." she said smiling.

Karin still looked at her mother with sad and worried eyes. Uzume turned to the right and saw Naruto had a similar look on his face like Karin and she turned to Kushina, who had a sad look. Uzume stared into Kushina's eyes, she immediately knew that Kushina could tell that something was very wrong with her.

Kushina looked at her son and niece. "Um Naruto, Karin, I think she's hungry and thirsty. Can you 2 go to the kitchen and bring her some food and water, please?" she asked.

"W-what about -" Karin said was cut off.

"Don't worry I'll look after your mother, I promise." Kushina said to her.

Karin looked at her Aunt for a moment before she said. "O-okay." then climbed off the bed.

Naruto and Karin slowly left the room, but Karin glanced a few times at her mother. Naruto closed the door behind them.

Uzume looked at the door as she sensed Naruto and Karin's chakra moved further and further away from the door before turning back to look Kushina.

"What's really wrong with you, Onee-chan?" Kushina said worriedly, looking at her. "And please tell the truth, you have been acting strange lately."

Uzume looked looked sadly. "Um, do you remember the Tasu virus that was in Uzushiogakure years before we moved to Konohagakure?" she asked.

"Yes, it was a deadly virus that killed many of our clan members and other people there." Kushina said. "But it disappeared decades ago, why are you bringing it up?"

"Because... I have it..." Uzume said before she looked at Kushina again.

Kushina stared at her older sister in shock. "W-w-what?" she asked shocked.

"I have the Tasu virus inside me." Uzume said.

"A-are you sure?" Kushina asked.

"I've tested my blood, which was confirmed, and showed many signs of it as well." Uzume said.

Kushina's shock turned into totally sadness, she took a few steps towards Uzume. "How long have you had it?" she asked.

"The longest time anyone has ever lived with the Tasu virus was 10 months and I've had it for almost 2 months." Uzume said. "So I'm not sure how long I have."

Kushina hugged Uzume tightly, tears started forming in her eyes. "Onee-chan... There has to be another way... there has to be an antidote created already..." she said.

"There isn't an antidote, Kushina." Uzume said, hugging her back.

"I-I don't want you to die." Kushina said sadly. "You're my only sibling. We've been through everything together, you're my best friend ever since we've met. I've lost our mother and father, I don't want to lose you too." then tears started running down her face.

"I wish there was a way but there isn't." Uzume said.

Kushina pulled back to look at her big sister. "W-why didn't you tell me sooner?" she asked. "We always tell each other everything ever since we were kids."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know how to tell." Uzume said.

"But.. I don't know how Karin would feel about this?" Kushina said.

Uzume looked down. "I don't know either. This is the reasons why I'm spending so much time with her, teaching her much as I can." she said. She looked back up again after she thought about something. "Kushina."

"Yes, Onee-chan?" Kushina asked.

"When I'm gone, I want you to teach and protect Karin." Uzume said.

"I promise will." Kushina said.

"Thank you." Uzume said hugging Kushina, smiling softly. "It's great that she has a wonderful Aunt and Uncle to be with her."

Kushina hugged Uzume back, she was really sad at her big sister's future death and she felt tears running down her face again.

Uzume suddenly sensed Naruto and Karin's chakras were coming back. The door opened up to reveal Karin holding a wooden plate that had 4 Onigiri and 3 tri-colored dangoes while Naruto was holding a cream colored cup with green tea. They stopped hugging to see their children were looking at them confused.

"Why are you crying Aunt Kushina?" Karin asked as she and Naruto walked forward.

Kushina wiped her tears away and smiled sadly at them. "It's nothing, we were just remembering some old memories that's all." she said.

Naruto and Karin still looked at sad and suspicious, not believing what she was saying.

"Okay you can give her the food please." Kushina said.

Naruto and Karin walked up to the bed and handed the food and tea to Uzume.

"Thank you." Uzume said, carefully taking the items from them.

Karin watched her mother eat the Onigiri first. _"What were they talking about when we left?"_ she thought.

* * *

Tomorrow.

Daytime.

Academy.

Iruka was asking questions to the students to see if they know them because they will be on the test. All of the students were sitting in their seats, paying attention except Karin, who was thinking about something else.

Karin was looking down sadly at the desk and her hands were together in her lap. _"I wonder what Mommy and Aunt Kushina were talking about?"_ she thought sadly.

She remembered her mother fainting and her Aunt crying.

 _"It's nothing, we were just remembering some old memories that's all." Kushina said._

 _"What kind of old memories were they thinking about?"_ Karin thought. _"Was it something terrible?"_

"Karin." a man's voice said. "Karin!"

Karin snapped out of her thoughts and looked to see all of the students and Iruka were staring at her.

"What's the answer?" Iruka said.

"Sorry.. um what was the question again?" Karin asked shyly.

Most of the students laughed at her, making Karin sad and embarrassed.

Iruka sighed. "The question was 'What is the weakness to Earth style jutsus'?" he asked again.

"Lightning style jutsus." Karin answered.

"That's correct Karin, but please pay more attention next time." Iruka said.

Karin looked down sadly. "H-hai." she said.

As Iruka moved on and started asking more questions, Sasuke looked at Karin worriedly and immediately knew that something was troubling her.

 _"Karin."_ Sasuke thought concerned.

...

Later.

Iruka and all of the students were standing outside a few feet where the targets were. Iruka, in his usual outfit and was holding a clipboard with his left hand, stood away from the students facing towards them. Karin, in her usual outfit, was standing behind Sasuke, in his usual outfit, while Naruto was standing next to Kiba, who had Akamaru on of his head, Choji, in his usual outfit, and Shikamaru, in his usual outfit.

"Alright kids! Today we're hands on with shuriken jutsu." Iruka said.

Karin looked up in surprised at that. _"I'm still not very good at that like Sasuke is."_ she thought.

"First, let's have someone demonstrate it for us. Let's see." Iruka said then looked at the clipboard.

Karin looked to the right side as she suddenly heard 2 voices. She looked to see Naruto and Kiba shouting and waving their arms around as they wanted to be picked.

Iruka looked at Shino. "Shino, you go ahead." he said.

Naruto and Kiba stopped what they were doing.

Karin looked at Iruka. "Huh?" she asked then looked behind to where Shino was.

Shino, in his usual outfit, started to speak. "Iruka-sensei, I'm afraid you've chosen the wrong person for this." he said. "The shuriken jutsu is not something the Aburame clan practices-"

Karin's eyes were wide and she suddenly became frightened when she saw bugs now crawling on the left side of Shino's face, she to the left to get away from him. She looked down at her right hand as she suddenly felt someone grab it, she noticed it was Sasuke's left hand and looked up to see him looking at her.

"Please, don't be scared. Nothing will happen to you as long as I'm here with you, Karin." Sasuke softly whispered to her.

Karin lightly blushed at what he said. "T-thank you, S-sasuke." she said shyly.

Sasuke and Karin looked forward as they continued to listen to Shino's voice until Iruka cut him off.

"Okay Shino that's enough." Iruka yelled. "Come on Sasuke, please just show us the basics."

"I will be right back, okay." Sasuke said to Karin before he moved through some of the students to demonstrate the shuriken jutsu.

Karin put her hands together near her chest as she watched Sasuke walked towards the clear dirt area. She suddenly heard most of the girls cheering for Sasuke especially Sakura and Ino.

Everyone stopped talking as Sasuke was now on the clear dirt area. Sasuke spread his legs a little apart and reached into his pockets and pulled out six shurikens then carefully aimed them at the target as he was focusing. Sasuke then threw them at the targets, all of them landing perfectly on each one.

Iruka looked at the targets. "Well done Sasuke. Excellent example." he said.

 _"A-amazing."_ Karin thought astonished.

Most of the girls started cheering for Sasuke again. Karin suddenly heard Naruto's voice again and turned her head towards him.

"Ah, stuck up and a show off! I can do that better to if I wanted to, dattebayo." Naruto said.

"Wh-what?" Karin said shyly.

Iruka turned to Naruto. "Alright then I guess you're up next Naruto." he said.

Karin turned to Naruto worriedly.

Naruto stepped on the clear dirt area. "Sweet! I'll show you how it's done and get ready to be amazed!" he said running.

Sasuke started to walk off the clear dirt area. Karin saw what Naruto did when he and Sasuke crossed paths for a second. Naruto stopped a few feet away from the targets. Sasuke moved through some of the students and was now next to Karin again.

 _"I know you can do it Oniisan."_ Karin thought.

Karin watched as Naruto stood there for a second before he pulled out six shurikens and threw all of them, but not where you expect them to be. Karin's eyes widened as all of the shurikens Naruto threw were all over the place and one was on a tree and extremely close to where Iruka's head, she could see that he was scared. Then she looked at Naruto to see that he was scared and shocked at the same time.

Karin looked around at everyone as most of them were laughing at Naruto's failed attempt.

"What a joke! It's the worst attempt I've ever seen!" Kiba said.

"Hn. Usuratonkachi." Sasuke said putting his hands in his pockets.

Naruto turned around and looked at everyone and laughed nervously. "Yeah, always just foolin' around you guys." he said smiling nervously.

There was suddenly a silence and Naruto looked sad for a moment before quickly running over to Iruka.

"Sensei, you just gotta let me try one more time, you just gotta I can do this!" Naruto said.

"No, that's enough." Iruka said then turned to the other students. "Okay, which one wants to give it a shot next."

Karin watched as Naruto now had a sad look on his face. _"Oniisan."_ she thought sadly.

* * *

Lunch time.

Sasuke and Karin were outside sitting in their usual spot eating from their bento boxes. Sasuke watched Karin looked down sadly at her mostly full bento box.

"Karin?" Sasuke asked.

Karin looked up at him. "Yes, um Sasuke?" she asked.

"What's wrong? You haven't been acting yourself today." Sasuke asked.

Karin looked down at the ground. "Well it's my mommy. She fainted yesterday but she said she was okay when she woke up." she said. "I know there is something more to it and also because Aunt Kushina was crying when me and Oniisan left the room for awhile to bring her food and tea, but they wouldn't tell us what's going on."

Sasuke listened to what Karin just said then put his right hand on her left shoulder, Karin looked at Sasuke again.

"Maybe they will tell you what's going on soon or you can spy on them to know what's going on." Sasuke said. "Or maybe it's not serious."

"Can I really do that?" Karin asked surprised.

"If you want to see what's going on." Sasuke said.

Karin looked up at the sky and started to think about what Sasuke said.

 _"He's right."_ Karin thought

Karin turned back to Sasuke, lightly blushing. "Um, S-sasuke." she asked.

"Yes?" Sasuke asked.

"Y-you've really improved a lot in your shuriken jutsu since the last time I've seen it." Karin said shyly.

Sasuke took his right hand off of Karin's left shoulder. "Thanks Karin, it was because I trained and Niisan taught me." he said blushing. "But I still remembered the promise I made to you about showing you my fireball jutsu."

Karin's eyes widened. _"S-sasuke.. still remembers the promise..."_ she thought surprised.

* * *

After the Academy.

When the Academy ended, Karin started to head back to the Uzumaki compound. Karin sensed Mikoto's chakra near her mother and Aunt Kushina, she closed her eyes and slowly used the Chakra suppression technique so her mother couldn't sense her coming. It took her awhile but she made it and saw Mikoto standing next to her mother and Aunt. She quickly hid behind a tree and carefully peeked out, she noticed that Mikoto was crying as her mother was saying something.

 _"What are they talking about?"_ Karin thought.

Karin moved closer by hiding behind another tree again. She poked her head and leaned in a little to hear and see what their conversation was. She was suddenly confused at why they stopped talking to one another.

"Karin." Uzume said.

Karin quickly retreated back behind the tree after her mother called out her name.

"I know you're hiding behind one of those trees. You can come out." Uzume said then looked over where her daughter's location is.

Karin slowly peek out from the tree and walked to where her mother, Aunt Kushina, in her usual outfit, and Mikoto, in her usual outfit, were at. She stopped right in front of them, she looked up at them sadly.

"What were you 3 talking about that's so causing Aunt Kushina and Mikoto to cry?" Karin asked.

"I-it's nothing, sweetie." Uzume lied smiling. "We were just about the past, that's all."

Even thought Karin couldn't sense it, she knew her mother was lying about it.

Mikoto wiped her tears away with her right hand. "Well, I'll just head back home, I'll see you tomorrow Uzume, Kushina, and Karin." she said then walked away.

"I'm going to the office to talk to Minato, see you 2 later Onee-chan and Karin." Kushina said then walked away as well.

Karin watched as her Aunt Kushina and Mikoto walked away, she knows that they're sad about something that her mother told them recently. She suddenly felt a hand on her right shoulder, she turned around and looked up to see her mother smiling down at her.

"Karin, I want to take you somewhere." Uzume said. "Let's go."

"H-hai." Karin said.

Uzume carefully grabbed Karin's left hand with her right hand and walked to a direction with her towards somewhere. They stopped at a large wooden shrine, seeing some Uzumaki clan members outside of it.

"Here we are." Uzume said.

The shrine had the Uzumaki crest on the entrance, a brown stairway leading up to it, and a grey stone pathway beside it.

"Mommy, why are we at the our clan's Mask Storage temple?" Karin asked looking up at her.

Uzume looked down at her. "Because I want to teach you about our clan's masks here." she said.

Uzume and Karin walked forward and up the stairs and into the Temple. When they entered the Temple, Karin looked around and saw many podiums of Oni-Masks, each wall have Uzumaki crest connected of the clan and underneath the walls of the masks had ornate black flames. Some members of the Uzumaki clan were either staring at the Oni-Masks or talking to one another.

Uzume let go of Karin's left hand and started to walk to one of the walls. "Come and look at this Karin." she said.

Karin walked over to the wall where her mother was standing then stopped on the left side of her. She looked at some of the Oni-Masks on the wall.

"You see all of these masks?" Uzume asked.

"Yes." Karin said.

"Well these are all important to our clan, it helps with many techniques." Uzume said.

"But what kind of techniques?" Karin asked, looking up at her mother.

"Our clan's techniques." Uzume said down at her daughter.

Karin looked back at the Oni-Masks again. _"How many techniques do we have that involves them?"_ she thought.

* * *

A few weeks have passed and the Tasu virus was making Uzume weaker as time went by. Karin was always noticing the change in her mother a lot.

Uzume, in a white kimono, was laying in her bed while Karin was in the Academy. She suddenly heard the open up to reveal Minato, in his usual outfit, and Kushina, in her usual outfit, having worried and sad looks on their faces.

"Well.. hello K-kushina and... M-minato..." Uzume said weakly.

"Onee-chan.. the Tasu virus inside you is getting worse.." Kushina said sadly, walking up to the bed with Minato following her.

"Please.. don't.. be make.. that.. face K-kushina.." Uzume said weakly.

"How can I not frown when you're going to... pass away.." Kushina said, looking down sadly.

Uzume slowly put her right hand on Kushina's right hand. "I wish.. we have spent... more time... together." she said weakly.

Minato and Kushina looked at Uzume sadly.

"Minato.. Kushina.." Uzume said weakly.

"Yes, Onee-chan?" Kushina asked.

"What is it?" Minato asked.

"W-when I... pass away.. I want both to... be the.. new leaders of... the Uzumaki clan..." Uzume said.

Minato and Kushina were surprised at first but was shortly replaced by understanding.

"Hai, Onee-chan." Kushina said sadly.

"Okay." Minato said.

"T-thank you.. both for.. agreeing.." Uzume said smiling softly. "You 2... are going to... make great.. of the clan..." then closed her eyes.

* * *

5 days later.

Night time.

Karin, in her night clothes, was under the blankets with her mother Uzume, in her night clothes, were going to sleep in the bed soon. Karin decided to sleep with her mother because she was extremely worried about her over the past few weeks. Karin was hugging her mother as they laid on the bed in silence.

Karin looked up at her mother at her mother. "Um, Mommy." she said.

Uzume looked down at her slowly. "Yes.. sweetie?" she asked weakly.

"Will you be better soon, right?" Karin asked.

Uzume saw the worry in her daughter's eyes about her but she still couldn't tell her. "I-I don't know sweetie but you know something." she said.

"What is it?" Karin asked curiously.

Uzume pulled her closely into a hug. "I will always... love you... no matter what... Karin." she said smiling. "Be a... good girl... and always... follow your dreams... okay..."

Karin hugged her mother back. "Okay and I will always love you too, Mommy." she said. "But why are you saying that?"

Uzume didn't say anything instead she just kissed her daughter's forehead.

...

A few hours later.

Still night time.

Karin suddenly woke up to get a glass of water. she fluttered her eyes opened before grabbing her glasses from the nightstand beside her. She looked down at her mother, who appeared to be still asleep.

"Mommy." Karin said, shaking her with both of her hands.

Karin sensed something was wrong, she shook her mother again. "M-mommy, please wake up." she said worriedly.

But her mother still didn't wake up. Karin put the right side of head on her mother's chest so she could hear her mother's heartbeats, her eyes widened as she didn't hear her mother's heart beating anymore. Karin's raised her head and looked at her mother with wide and sad eyes.

 _"W-what's going on?! I-I sense Mommy's chakra but her heart isn't beating."_ Karin thought. _"M-maybe Aunt Kushina or Uncle Minato know what to do?"_

Karin got off of the bed and ran out of her mother's room, down the hallway, and the living room to the main shoji doors. She slid one of the doors opened before going outside and ran to her Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina's house. When Karin made it, she loudly beated on the door.

"Aunt Kushina, Uncle Minato! Please open up!" Karin yelled. "Please open up!"

Karin continued this until she sensed Kushina's chakra coming to the door, it opened up to reveal Kushina in a white nightgown and pink slippers and was rubbing her eyes sleepily with her right hand.

"Why are you doing out here so late?" Kushina asked sleepily.

"Aunt Kushina! There's something wrong with Mommy, she won't wake up and her heart stopped beating!" Karin said sadly.

Kushina removed her right hand from her eyes as they widened at what Karin just said as it jolted her sleepiness away. "What?!" she asked.

"Please help Mommy!" Karin said sadly.

Kushina rushed out of her house with Karin following her. They ran to Ryo and Uzume's house and entered, running to the bedroom of Ryo and Uzume. As they entered the room, Kushina looked at her older sister laying on the bed, who was not moving not even one inch. Kushina panted before slowly stepped over to the bed, scared at what Karin said might be true, then unlifted the blankets from Uzume's body. Uzume's left hand limply swung off of the bed. Karin gasped scared and sad as she saw so many bite marks on her mother's left arm.

Kushina checked for Uzume's pulse only to find she doesn't have one anymore, she stood still for a moment after doing that.

"I-i-is M-mommy going to be okay Aunt Kushina?" Karin asked worriedly.

Kushina didn't say anything, instead she dropped to her knees and started crying.

"A-aunt Kushina, please tell me is Mommy going to be okay?" Karin asked, getting sadder by the minute.

Kushina slowly turned to her niece with tears running down her face. "I'm... I'm so sorry... Karin... b-but I... don't think..." she said sadly. Couldn't even tell her that Uzume has passed away.

Karin looked over at her mother and started walking over to her only to have her Aunt Kushina block her way and hug her. "P-please let me go, Aunt Kushina, Mommy is-" she said but was cut off.

"I'm really sorry, Karin." Kushina said crying even more. "B-but your mother... has... died..."

Karin's eyes widened at what her Aunt Kushina just said, she felt tears forming in her eyes. "No... No...!" she said then struggling to get out of Kushina's grip but was unsuccessful at it.

Tears now ran down her face as she stopped struggling and gripped her Aunt Kushina. Kushina rubbed Karin's back to calm her down at the sudden loss of her mother and also her older sister, but was silently crying as well.

 _"Onee-chan... I'm going to miss you and even the people you care about and have connections with for years."_ Kushina thought sadly.

"Mommy!" Karin yelled crying, tears now rapidly running down her face.

* * *

End of Chapter 4.

Please review.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6.

Please review.

 _Itadakimas_ means _"I will eat now!" "Dig in!" or "Let's eat!"_

* * *

10 days later.

Karin, in her usual outfit, was sitting on her bed crying at the loss of her now decreased mother. Karin was really that everything happened so sudden over the past years. She started to remember the last words her father said to her before he died.

Flashback.

 _"What are you doing here Daddy, you kissed me goodnight a few hours ago." Karin said, putting on her glasses then looked up at her father._

 _"Well, I won't be here in the morning, sweetie." Ryo said._

 _"What do you mean, will you be back in the afternoon?" Karin asked curiously._

 _"No I won't be here this afternoon." Ryo said. "I will be gone for a few weeks with your Uncle Minato, Fugaku Uchiha, and other allies on an important mission in 2 hours."_

 _"Please don't go Daddy, I'll miss you too much." Karin said sadly._

 _"I have to go help them Karin, they need me on this mission." Ryo said, placing his right hand of his daughter's face. "But don't worry, I will be back."_

 _Karin looked down for a few moments as tears formed in her eyes then looked back up at her father. "Y-you promise you will be back Daddy."_

 _"I promise."Ryo said, smiling warmly at Karin._

 _Karin removed his hand from her face and got up then hugged her father tightly around his neck, tears streaming down her face. "I hope you be safe Daddy."_

 _Ryo put his left hand around his daughter's waist and his right hand in her hair, caressing it softly. "I will sweetie."_

 _Flashback ends._

Karin cried more when she remembered that. _"Daddy."_ she thought sadly. Then she remembered the day she saw his corpse.

Flashback.

 _Karin saw a couple of Uzumakis and Uchihas behind them had their clothes tattered but not like her uncle and Fugaku, which were worse. She saw that they all had sad faces as they were walking past the gates._

 _"What happened?!" one of the Uzumaki guards at the gates asked sadly._

 _Her mother, her Aunt Kushina, and a few Uzumaki clan people came running past her as they ran to the gates. She saw them talking to her uncle and Fugaku but couldn't hear what they were say because she was far away._

 _Karin slowly walked towards them wanting to know what they are talking about._

 _"That can't be please tell me it's not him." Uzume said, tears running down her face._

 _"I'm so sorry, Uzume." Minato said sadly, looking down. "I really wish it was."_

 _"This is really tragic." Fugaku said, sadly._

 _Kushina made a sad face as she put her hands on her older sister's shoulders. "I'm so sorry this happened."_

 _Karin saw them stop talking as they all looked at her sad when she stopped near them._

 _"Uncle Minato, where's Daddy?" Karin asked, looking at him. "I don't sense his chakra anywhere."_

 _They all looked down, unable to tell her._

 _"Did he use the chakra suppression technique to surprise me?" Karin asked. "Why is everyone sad?"_

 _Her mother cried a little more at the questions she was asking then she watched her walked up to her and kneeled to her level._

 _Her mother hands on her shoulders. "Um, sweetie... I'm afraid... your father is... no longer with us." she said sadly.  
_

 _"What do you mean, Mommy?" Karin asked. "He wasn't with us for a few weeks."_

 _"No, your father is... gone." her mother said, before more tears started running down her face._

 _"Gone?" Karin said, her face now turning sad. "He said he'll be back."_

 _"Well, sweetie..." her mother was thinking._

 _Karin saw to the left of the corner of her eye to someone laying on the ground and was covered by a white and cloth. She noticed her father's shoes, clothes, and hair._

 _"Daddy!" Karin said sadly as ran over it._

 _"Karin, please don't look." her mother said, reaching out to her but Karin still ran._

 _Karin made it to it and was immediately horrified at what she saw. This person was her father's but she sensed no chakra in him. She saw many scars on his body. She kneeled down in front of him and put her hands on the chest of her father._

 _"Daddy... Daddy, please get up..." Karin said sadly._

 _But their was no response._

 _"Daddy, please get up please..." Karin said again, shaking, tears now forming in her eyes. "Daddy." but still no response._

 _Tears rapidly ran down Karin's face as she put her face on his chest. "Daddy is... dead!"_

 _"Sweetie." a voice said._

 _Karin opened her eyes and turned around to see her mother walking towards her._

 _"I'm so sorry about this sweetie." her mother said sadly._

 _Karin looked at everyone to see that they still had sad faces then got up before backing away from her mother._

 _"Daddy is... really dead." Karin whispered, still crying. "He promised... he would be back."_

 _"Sweetie..." her mother said._

 _"Father... lied to me..." Karin said before running off to the house crying._

Flashback ends.

 _"And now... Mommy..."_ Karin thought sadly, closing her eyes tightly. Then started to remember her Mother's last words and moments.

Flashback.

 _Karin looked up at her mother at her mother. "Um, Mommy." she said._

 _Uzume looked down at her slowly. "Yes.. sweetie?" she asked weakly._

 _"Will you be better soon, right?" Karin asked._

 _Uzume saw the worry in her daughter's eyes about her but she still couldn't tell her. "I-I don't know sweetie but you know something." she said._

 _"What is it?" Karin asked curiously._

 _Uzume pulled her closely into a hug. "I will always... love you... no matter what... Karin." she said smiling. "Be a... good girl... and always... follow your dreams... okay..."_

 _Karin hugged her mother back. "Okay and I will always love you too, Mommy." she said. "But why are you saying that?"_

 _Uzume didn't say anything instead she just kissed her daughter's forehead._

Flashback ends.

Karin remembered her mother's funeral, as it was 3 days ago. Everyone, especially Kushina and Karin, mourned the death of Uzume Uzumaki. Karin didn't talk to anyone, not even her family members and Sasuke. She stopped going to the Academy when her mother decreased.

Karin suddenly sensed 2 very familiar chakras coming to her house and within a minute she heard a few knocks at the main shoji doors, knowing it was her Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina.

"Karin." Kushina said.

Karin tried to ignore them as she wanted to be alone, hoping that they would leave.

"Karin, please open up. We want to talk to you." Kushina called out, knocking a few minutes again.

Her Aunt Kushina still continued to call out to her and knock on the main shoji doors. Within a couple of minutes, Karin slowly got off her bed and stood up on the floor, as she was tired of hearing the noise. She slowly walked to her door and opened it with her left hand then walked through the hallway and down the stairs into the living room.

As Karin slid one of the main shoji doors open with her right hand to reveal her Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina. They looked down at Karin to see that she had a sad face and tears running down her face.

Kushina crouched down and softly hugged Karin. "I'm so sorry this happened to you, Karin." she said sadly, rubbing her back..

More tears ran down Karin's face at what Kushina just said.

* * *

Minato and Kushina were sitting on a couch together while Karin sat on another couch alone. Karin was looking down sadly with her hands on lap, not even moving an each.

"Karin.. we came here to talk to you about something." Minato said.

Karin didn't say anything nor looked up.

"Since we are now your guadians, how about you move in with us." Kushina said.

Karin slowly looked up with her eyes wide, shocked. "W-what?" she asked surprised.

"You can live with us." Kushina said. "We have a nice room in our house set up for you."

Karin continued to stared at them for a moment before she looked at them with sadly. "B-but I-I don't want to leave." she said sadly.

"Huh? We don't want you to live here all by yourself." Minato said.

Karin shook her head, closing her eyes. "I want to stay here." she said sadly.

"Karin-dear... please..." Kushina said sadly.

Karin stopped sitting on the couch and stood on the floor, tears now running down rapidly from her face. "A-aunt Kushina... U-uncle Minato... I want to stay here... it's my home and... Mommy and Daddy had this house for years..." she opened her eyes and looked at them both. "And I don't want to leave..." she closed her eyes and ran upstairs crying.

Minato and Kushina stood up from the couch as they watched their niece disappeared from their sight.

"Karin, wait!" Kushina said, taking a step forward but was still by Minato with his right hand. She looked at him.

"Kushina its best take we leave her alone for awhile, she needs some time to herself right now after what has happened to Uzume recently." he said calmly.

Kushina sadly turned back to the stairs as she heard a door closed. _"Karin."_ she thought sadly.

Minato and Kushina slowly walked to the main shoji doors and put on their shoes before sliding one of them open stepped out, closing the door behind them.

When Minato and Kushina were a few steps away from the house, they looked to see Fugaku, in his usual outfit, and Mikoto, in her usual outfit, were walking towards them.

"Fugaku, Mikoto, what are you doing here?" Minato asked.

Fugaku and Mikoto stopped right in front of Minato and Kushina.

"We came here to check on Karin... to see how she is doing..." Mikoto said worriedly.

Kushina sighed sadly. "She's not doing well and she's hiding in her room right now... we've talked to her a few times... but she doesn't want to listen to us.." she said. "It's bad that Ryo died years ago.. but Uzume as well recently.."

"This is tragic." Fugaku said.

"I think you 2 should come back another time.. she doesn't want to talk to anyone right now.. not even us..." Kushina said sadly.

"Oh, o-okay." Mikoto said sadly.

Fugaku and Mikoto slowly turned around as they walked to go back to the Uchiha compound. Minato and Kushina watched as Fugaku and Mikoto left. Kushina turned back to Ryo and Uzume's house.

"I hope Karin get's better soon." Kushina said sadly.

"I have to get back to the office right now." Minato said. "We'll talk about more about this later."

"H-hai." Kushina said sadly.

Minato glanched at Ryo and Uzume's house one more time before walking off to the Hokage Mansion.

Kushina looked down sadly at the ground. _"Karin.. I know the pain you feel.. and you're not alone..."_ she thought.

* * *

Iruka, in his usual, was at his podium and facing his class as he was teaching them another more about Taijutsu. Sasuke, in his usual outfit, was sitting in his seat at his desk. Sasuke looked to the left at Karin's empty seat. Karin hasn't returned to the Academy after her mother passed away. All of the girls tried to sit at the desk but Sasuke told them 'No'. Sasuke really missed Karin and was worried about as he hasn't seen her after the funeral.

 _Flashback._

 _8 Days ago._

 _Their was a light blue coffin in the middle of the grass as it had a picture of Uzume on the top of it and was surrounded by flowers. There were many rows of people wear black with each having their clan's crests on the back; they all black shirts but the men wore pants and the women skirts. All the people were from the Uchiha clan, Uzumaki clan, Namikaze, and their other clan allies._

 _Karin, Kushina, Minato, and Naruto were standing in front of them as they close to Uzume's coffin. Everyone had their eyes closed and their heads lowered as they were praying for the decreased young woman. Uzume was being buried on the right of Ryo's grave. When they were finished, everyone opened their eyes, some people went to lay more flowers on Uzume's coffin before they lower it in the ground, while others chatted with one another._

 _Sasuke walked over to Karin, when he made it he saw her standing and not even moving. Her eyes were being covered by her hair and glasses._

 _"K-karin." Sasuke said._

 _Karin didn't say anything._

 _"Karin." Sasuke said again._

 _"Please say something." Sasuke said worriedly._

 _Karin still didn't say anything._

 _"Talk to me please, Karin." Sasuke said worriedly, then put his left hand on her right shoulder._

 _Sasuke suddenly saw tears running down Karin's face and raised her and turned to the right to look at him. Sasuke was sad to see Karin looking at him with sad eyes and tears running down her slightly red cheeks._

 _"Karin I-" Sasuke said but was cut off._

 _"P-please P-please me alone, S-sasuke." Karin said sadly stuttering._

 _Karin walked off, causing Sasuke's left hand to slip from her right shoulder, and over to her mother's lowering coffin. Sasuke was about to go follow Karin but stopped when he suddenly felt a hand on his right shoulder, he turned around and looked up to see Itachi looking down at him._

 _"Give her some time to be alone, Sasuke. She's been through a lot." Itachi said._

 _Sasuke looked at Itachi for a moment before he down sadly as he lowered his left hand, then he raised his head as he looked over at Karin, who was standing by herself and tears falling down her face._

 _"Karin." Sasuke thought sadly._

 _Flashback ends._

Sasuke suddenly imagined Karin sitting at her desk and facing forward and looked at him then blushed softly before turning away shyly and then the image of Karin disappeared. Sasuke turned forward to listen to Iruka's lectures.

 _"I wonder what you're doing right now, Karin?"_ Sasuke thought.

...

Class was over and all of the students were walking home. Sasuke was carrying a cream colored bag on his right shoulder as he was walking away from the Academy. When Sasuke made it to the Uchiha compound and walked inside of it he noticed his mother standing outside of their home looking down sadly at a picture in her right hand.

"Mother." Sasuke said.

Mikoto snapped out of her thoughts and looked down at her second son. "Sasuke?" she asked surprised.

"What are you looking at?" Sasuke asked stopping next to her.

Mikoto looked back at the picture sadly and sighed softly then lowered it so Sasuke could see it. "It's a picture of me, Uzume, and Kushina. It was taken months... before her passing." she said.

Sasuke looked at it to see her mother was on the left, Kushina was in the middle, and Uzume was on the right, they were all in their usual outfits. Sasuke can see that they were all smiling as they were facing forward. Mikoto pulled it back and looked down at Sasuke again.

"So did you have a nice day at the Academy?" Mikoto asked.

Sasuke looked up at his mother. "It was fine but..." he said then looked down.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?" Mikoto asked worriedly.

Sasuke raised his head. "When is Karin coming back to the Academy?" he asked.

"Huh?" Mikoto asked surprised then her face now showed sadness.

"I haven't seen her in days and doesn't come to the Academy anymore." Sasuke said sadly.

Mikoto crouched down at Sasuke's height and put her left hand on his shoulder. "Sasuke... s-she's going through something right now. She lost her father and now her mother. Her Aunt and Uncle talked to her a few hours ago but she still hasn't recovered, she needs time." she said.

"But will she ever come back?" Sasuke said looking at his mother sadly.

"She will soon... but not today..." Mikoto said.

sasuke sighed, looking down.

...

Hours later.

Night time.

Sasuke was laying on his bed and looking up at the ceiling.

 _"Sasuke... s-she's going through something right now. She lost her father and now her mother. Her Aunt and Uncle talked to her a few hours ago but she still hasn't recovered, she needs time." his mother said._

Sasuke blinked once.

 _"She will soon... but not today..." his mother said._

Sasuke closed his eyes and began to think about his past with Karin.

 _Flashback._

 _5 years old._

 _Sasuke noticed a red haired man with glasses and woman facing their parents._

 _"They must be mother and father's friends that come from the Uzumaki clan." Sasuke thought, staring at them._

 _But what caught Sasuke's attention the most the crimson red haired girl with glasses that was hiding behind the woman, she looked to be his age, looking shy at them._

 _"What is it, Mother?" Itachi asked._

 _"Itachi. Sasuke. Ryo and Uzume came to visit and they've brought their daughter, Karin with them just like when you were younger." Sasuke heard his mother say._

 _Sasuke stared curiously at Karin. "She's really pretty and her name is great and special." Sasuke thought._

 _When his mother introduced him to Karin, Sasuke now noticed that Karin was staring at him confused, making him look down blushing._

 _"Itachi, can you and Sasuke show Karin around while me and your father discuss something with Ryo and Uzume?" their mother asked._

 _"Yes, mother." he heard his big brother said._

 _Sasuke walked over to Karin smiling, but stopped when she hid behind her mother again, causing him to stop where he was. "She doesn't like me." he thought sadly._

 _He saw Karin's mother kneel down to their level and turned Karin in her direction. He was happy after hearing her say go play him and Itachi but became sad again when Karin said she wanted to stay by her parents side, and became happy again after a short discussion with Karin agreeing. He watched as Karin's mother softly pushed Karin over to them. He stared at Karin, who was looking sad and shy at them, holding her hands near her chest then started to look down at her feet._

 _"Um, do you want to see our backyard?" Sasuke asked nervously, blushing a little. "Or maybe practice with our shuriken?"_

 _Sasuke saw how Karin looked at him confused for a moment before turning back to look at her mother._

 _"It's okay, just be careful, sweetie." he heard her mother said._

 _Follow us, we'll show you where we practice." Itachi said._

 _..._

 _7 years old._

 _Sasuke went down another and suddenly heard a gasping noise. He turned to the left to see a closet, he walked towards it, he raised his right hand and grabbed the doorknob. He opened it to see Karin sitting on the floor and was looking down at the floor sadly._

 _"Karin." Sasuke said relieved._

 _Karin looked up at Sasuke. "S-sasuke." she said._

 _"What are you doing in here Karin and where is your lunch?" Sasuke asked._

 _Karin looked down sadly. "Someone ate my lunch." she said._

 _"Huh?" Sasuke asked._

 _"I don't know who ate it all, it was empty when I found it." Karin said sadly._

 _Sasuke stepped more into the closet and crouched down next to Karin. "Then we can share my lunch." he said softly smiling._

 _Karin looked at Sasuke again. "B-but you need it." she said._

 _"I have plenty to share." Sasuke said._

 _"I-I not hung-" Karin was cut off when her stomach started to growl again, making her blush._

 _"It seems you are hungry." Sasuke said smiling more._

 _Karin turned her head away, a little embarrassed._

 _Sasuke stood up and held out his right hand. "Let's go eat outside together." he said._

 _Karin looked up at him again for a moment before she slowly raised her left hand to grab Sasuke's right hand. When Karin grabbed it, Sasuke carefully pulled Karin up to her feet. Karin blushed softly._

 _"Let's go." Sasuke said before walked out of the closet with Karin._

 _"H-hai." Karin said shyly._

 _..._

 _Sasuke and Karin were sitting on one of the benches, away from the other students so they could eat in peace. Sasuke opened his bento box with his right hand as he held it with his left hand._

 _Sasuke put the top of the bento box in between them. "Here you choose first." he said smiling, showing Karin the insides of the box._

 _"T-thank you." Karin said then looked down and saw many Onigiri, Kyaraben, fish, and other foods in the bento box._

 _Karin reached with her right hand and pulled out one of the Onigiri then softly took a bite. Sasuke used his right hand and pulled out a Onigiri too. As Karin was eating, she looked up to see Sasuke was smiling at her._

 _Karin blushed softly and looked away from Sasuke. "I-It's delicious." she said shyly._

 _"My Mother made them." Sasuke said then took a bite out of his Onigiri._

 _"It was great that you can make 2 clones and seek away without being seen." Karin said._

 _"Thanks, I've been practicing with Niisan and Shisui sometimes." Sasuke said._

 _"Oh." Karin said._

 _Flashback over._

Sasuke now imagined Karin smiling shyly.

 _"S-sasuke." Karin said._

Sasuke opened his eyes and got from his bed and went over to his closed window then opened them up with both his hands. he looked up at the crescent moon in the star lit sky.

"I have to see her. Karin's all alone right now." Sasuke said worriedly then walked over to his door.

Sasuke opened it up and walked out then closed it behind him. He slowly and quietly walked down the halls so he wouldn't wake up his parents and Itachi then down the stairs and made it to the main shoji doors and put on his sandals before he slowly slid opened the door and stepped out and closed it behind him.

When Sasuke was now outside he ran from his house and Uchiha compound and started heading to the Uzumaki compound.

* * *

Karin was in the kitchen and was sitting at the table, finishing the last of an Onigiri she made. Even though she still depressed about the sudden loss of her mother, Karin sometimes leaves her room to take a bath or eat.

When Karin stood up from one of the chairs at the table and slowly walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. As Karin was walking towards the stairs she stopped and she noticed a small shiny black object on the coffee table. She saw it was a kunai wrapped in white bandages at the handle. She walked over to the coffee table and grabbed it with her right hand and looked at it closely. Karin suddenly remembered that it was her father's kunai and her mother showed it to her a few weeks before she died. She continued walking and made it to the stairs and to her room and closed the door. The window was open

Karin sat on her bed and held the kunai upward with both hands, looking down at it sadly. She was thinking about what to do with the kunai.

 _"M-maybe I should go where Mommy and Daddy are right now. I really miss them a lot."_ Karin thought sadly, then closed her eyes. _"No one will even notice."_

Karin sighed as she slowly raised the kunai, but before she could do anything she quickly opened her eyes as she suddenly sensed Sasuke coming to the Uzumaki clan compound.

Karin got off the bed and stood on the floor, separating her hands as the kunai was now in her right hand. "W-why i-is Sasuke coming here at this time of night?!" she asked herself shocked, looking at the open window with wide eyes.

"I-I have to hide." Karin said looking around then her eyes stopped at the closet. "There."

* * *

As Sasuke continued to run he finally made it to the Uzumaki clan compound, it took him awhile to get to Karin's house. When Sasuke made it to Karin's house he stopped close to it, panting a little from the running, and stared at the house for awhile before walking up to the main shoji doors. He stopped and raised his left hand and started knocking.

"Karin." Sasuke said. "Karin, please open up."

There was no answer.

Sasuke knocked a few times before he stopped, he put the left side of his head against the main shoji doors to hear inside, but he heard nothing only complete silence. He took his head away from the wall and decided to slid one of the main shoji doors open with his left hand and stepped inside before looking around the dark house. He closed the door behind him and slowly took off his sandals and placed them next to Karin's then stepped more inside.

"Karin!" Sasuke called out, walking more inside. "Karin, where are you?!"

Sasuke turned and walked towards the kitchen, when he made it there it was dark and only the kitchen window above the sink showed the crescent moon was the only light source. He looked around to find nothing and turned around and walked back into the living room.

Sasuke was about to call out to Karin again until he suddenly heard a thud coming from upstairs, he looked up in curiosity.

"That must be Karin, she's in her room." Sasuke said to himself.

Sasuke turned and walked towards the stairs and climbed up. When he made it up he looked at Karin's closed door and walked over to it, he twisted the knob with his right hand. He opened it and slowly pushed it open and stepped inside to see that the window was open. He looked around the room and saw no sign of Karin only a clean room, but what caught his eyes was the blankets on Karin's bed was a little wrinkled, knowing that Karin must have sat on it.

"Karin, please come out." Sasuke called out.

Sasuke stopped and turned as he suddenly heard a soft gasp coming from the closet, he walked over to it and twisted the door knob with his right hand and opened it. He looked to see Karin sitting on the floor and was hiding her face.

"Karin." Sasuke said smiling, relieved to see her. "It's so good to see." then he took one step closer to her.

Karin quickly moved a little away from Sasuke. Sasuke stopped moving as he became confused at why would she do that then he suddenly noticed that Karin had been crying recently and was holding a kunai with both hands. Sasuke immediately stepped towards Karin again and grabbed the kunai with his left hand and pulled it out of her hands.

"Karin, what are you doing with this?" Sasuke asked concerned.

Karin still didn't look or said anything to Sasuke, only staying quiet. Sasuke now fully realized that Karin was really sad and depressed over the loss of her parents, who have passed away.

Sasuke stared sadly at Karin before he put down the kunai and hugged her, making Karin's eyes widened in shock.

"Y-you're not alone, Karin. I know that your parents are not here anymore... but you still have me, Naruto, and your Aunt and Uncle with you... and we'll never leave you behind or... your side..." Sasuke said comforting.

Karin suddenly felt tears well up in her eyes and a wave of sadness, she buried her head into the left side of Sasuke's shoulder and started crying. Sasuke hugged Karin tighter and softly rubbed her back with his right hand. Karin cried even harder as she held on to Sasuke's shirt. Karin continued to cry for 23 minutes until she started whimpering and suddenly went quiet and she released him from her grip. Sasuke looked down curiously to see Karin had fallen asleep after crying.

Sasuke picked Karin up bridal style and carried her to her bed, he sat her on the bed and removed some of the blankets before carefully placing Karin on the left side of the bed. He wiped some of her dried tears away with his right hand, he watched as she sighed softly in her sleep. He climbed in and laid beside Karin on the bed, wrapping his arms around her.

"I will always be with you Karin." Sasuke said before he closed his eyes and slowly fell asleep.

...

Tomorrow.

Morning.

As Karin was still sleeping she suddenly felt that someone was breathing on her head, she slowly woke up to see Sasuke was sleeping next to her and his arms were around her top body. It took her a second to realize it before she blushed furiously and quickly fell on the floor without waking up Sasuke. She slowly stood up from the floor and looked down at Sasuke, who was sleeping peacefully and quietly. She suddenly remembered what happened yesterday, her blush lessened until it was gone.

"Sasuke... I know that you meant what you said..." Karin said quietly.

Karin walked over to Sasuke's side and put more of the blanket on him before she walked over to the door and walked towards the door and stepped outside to go downstairs.

...

30 minutes later.

Sasuke slowly woken up and slowly opened his eyes then raised to that he wasn't in his room instead he was in Karin's room, he looked around the room and couldn't find her anywhere.

 _"I would where she is right now?"_ Sasuke thought.

Sasuke suddenly smelled something delicious coming from downstairs, he pulled the blanket away from him and stepped on the floor before he walked over to the door and walked through the hallway and down the stairs. He made it through the living room and to the kitchen, he stepped in to see Karin wearing a white apron that was big for her and was finishing up with the cooking. The kitchen table had a big bowl of white rice, a medium bowl of miso soup, 2 hot green teas in cups on the left and right side, a few slices of toast served on a rectangular dish, 6 small circular round bowls were on the table, and 4 chopsticks laid on the table.

Karin walked to the table with a spoon in her left hand and grabbed one of the small bowls with her right and started scooping some up and put it inside before placing it on the right side of the table and grabbed another bowl then scooped some up and put it on the left side of the table. She looked up to see Sasuke was staring at her, she turned away shyly.

"U-um, good morning, Sasuke..." Karin greeted shyly.

"Good morning to you, too." Sasuke said smiling, walking more into the kitchen. "You've made breakfast, it smells and looks delicious."

"Th-thank you, Sasuke." Karin said shyly, blushing a little.

Sasuke sat down in a chair at the right side of the table and closed his eyes and put his hands together before saying 'Itadakimasu' then opened his eyes and reached for the chopsticks with his left hand and a small bowl of rice with his right hand and started eating.

"This taste really good, it's better than my mom's cooking." Sasuke said.

"M-my Mommy always cooked... together and she taught... me how to." Karin said shyly, blushing a little more.

Karin carefully took off her apron before placing it on a nearby rack before walking over to the table. "U-um, Sasuke." she said shyly.

Sasuke stopped eating and swallowed his rice before looking at Karin curiously. "What is it, Karin?" he asked.

"W-well I want to thank you for coming over and helping me yesterday." Karin said shyly, looking away from Sasuke.

"It was nothing and I wanted to see you again." Sasuke said. "Will you come back to the Academy?"

"I-I don't know." Karin said, looking at him again.

"You should, it doesn't feel right without you there." Sasuke said.

Karin blushed again. "Y-you d-do?" she asked stuttering.

"Of course." Sasuke said.

Karin looked down and thought about it, it had been awhile since she has attended the Academy and she wanted to go back but was a little afraid to go now. "I guess... I can come back today." she said, slowly looking up.

"Great." Sasuke said smiling.

Karin sat down on the left side at the table and closed her eyes and put her hands together before saying 'Itadakimasu' then opened her eyes and reached for the chopsticks with her left hand and a small bowl of miso soup with her right hand, she was about to start eating until she sensed Minato, Kushina, and Naruto were coming over. She put her food down and stood up from her chair before walking over to exit out of the kitchen.

Sasuke stopped eating and looked over at Karin. "Where are you going Karin?" he asked.

Karin stopped walking and turned to Sasuke. "My Aunt Kushina, Uncle Minato, and Oniisan are coming this way." she said. "I have to let them in."

"Oh." Sasuke said.

Karin walked out of the kitchen and into the living room to the main shoji doors, she open it up see Minato, Kushina, and Naruto, in their usual outfits, were standing outside.

"Hello." Karin greeted, looking at them.

"Are you okay, Karin-dear?" Kushina asked concerned, looking down at her.

"You haven't been yourself lately." Minato said, looking down at her.

"Will you return to the Academy soon?" Naruto said. "I miss you, dattebayo."

"I'm better now and I'll return today." Karin said.

"That's wonderful news, dattebane." Kushina said smiling.

"Hey something smells good." Naruto said smiling.

"I've made breakfast." Karin said.

"You're eating it all by yourself." Minato said.

"No I have a guest eating right now." Karin said.

"A guest?!" Minato, Kushina, and Naruto yelled together.

"Would you all like some breakfast?" Karin asked, moving out of the way to let them in.

Minato, Kushina, and Naruto thought about it for second before entering, they took off their sandals before going to the kitchen with Karin closing the door and followed after them. When they entered the kitchen they saw Sasuke sitting at the table and was looking at them.

"Sasuke?" Kushina asked.

Naruto immediately got angry and ran over to him. "What are you doing here, dattebayo?!" he asked annoyed.

"I don't have to answer to you." Sasuke said.

Naruto and Sasuke glared at each other as they were annoyed at being in the same together.

"Would you 2 knock it off." Kushina said.

Karin stepped into the kitchen again. "Please... please stop fighting.. Oniisan, Sasuke please..." she said sadly.

Sasuke and Naruto stopped glaring at each other and looked Karin's sad face, they immediately stopped fighting.

"Okay." Sasuke said sighing.

"Alright." Naruto said sighing.

"Why are you here, Sasuke?" Minato asked. "Your parents would get worried if you're not at home."

"Well um, he came over last night to help me." Karin said.

"Thank you, Sasuke." Kushina said. "Whatever you did was wonderful."

"Um, thank you." Sasuke said.

All of them sat at the table and started eating, Karin looked at everyone and sensed the warm atmosphere that was like her mother and father's. She suddenly remembered what Sasuke said yesterday.

 _Flashback._

 _"Y-you're not alone, Karin. I know that your parents are not here anymore... but you still have me, Naruto, and your Aunt and Uncle with you... and we'll never leave you behind or... your side..." Sasuke said comforting._

 _Flashback ends._

Karin looked at everyone and made a small smile. _"Sasuke is right about this... I'm not alone..."_ she thought. _"And still have memories of Mommy and Daddy with me always..."_

* * *

End of Chapter 6.

Please review.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7.

Please review.

No flames.

* * *

4 months later.

Day time.

Academy.

Classroom.

Everyone was sitting in their desks, some were talking to one another or quietly doing nothing. Karin, in her usual outfit, was quietly reading a book while Sasuke had his elbows on the desk and fingers tangled together and was looking forward. Naruto, in his usual outfit, was sleeping on the desk.

 _"I wonder why Iruka-sensei stepped out of the classroom for a moment?"_ Karin thought curiously as she turned around page with her right hand. _"Was it something important that he had to do?"_

Karin suddenly sensed Iruka coming back to the classroom, she closed her book and placed it on the left side of her desk before looking down at one of the classroom doors.

"You sensed Iruka coming back to the classroom didn't you?" Sasuke asked, looking at her.

"H-hai." Karin said looking at Sasuke before turning back to the bottom classroom doors.

The door slid open to reveal Iruka, in his usual outfit, and he stepped in and slid the door closed with his right hand before walking over to the podium. All of the students almost immediately stopped talking as they saw Iruka at the podium. Karin suddenly saw that Iruka was holding stacks of cream colored papers in his left hand.

 _"So... we're all receiving them again ..."_ Karin thought.

"Alright class, it's report card day." Iruka said, holding up his left hand.

Half of the class groaned and some of them smiled.

"Now as I call your names, you will come up and get it." Iruka said.

 _"I hope I improved on most of my skills like I did last time."_ Karin thought. _"Sasuke easily did great on his last time."_

* * *

Afternoon.

Sasuke and Karin were walking away from the Academy and were holding their report cards. Naruto went to the Hokage's office to see his father about his work.

"What kind of grades did you make this time?" Sasuke asked smiling, looking at her. "I know you probably did better than I did."

"I-I don't think I did. My grades have increased a little... but there not on your level..." Karin said shyly.

"Let me see." Sasuke said.

"U-um o-okay." Karin said, handing him her report card with her left hand.

Sasuke took it with his right hand and and looked at both his and hers. He saw that she was higher than him when it came to history, mathematics, intelligence, stamina, hand seals, and chakra control but other activities he was better than her.

"These are really great." Sasuke said, looking at her.

"Yours is better than mine." Karin said.

"You're the smartest person in the class, you always make 100s on every test we've have." Sasuke said smiling. "And you know more jutsus than I do."

Karin blushed furiously as she looked away to the left. "Th-thank y-you, S-sasuke." she said shyly.

Sasuke gave Karin's report card back to her. "I'll see you later, Karin." he said.

"You too, S-sasuke." Karin said shyly.

Sasuke ran off to the Uchiha clan compound while Karin continued her way to the Uzumaki clan compound. Within minutes, Karin entered the Uzumaki clan compound. She walked to her house and slid one of the main shoji doors with her left hand. She took off her sandals at the door before stepping in more. Minato and Kushina allowed Karin to stay in Ryo and Uzume's house as long as they eat dinner and breakfast some together and spend time together one in awhile.

Karin walked over to a small table and put her report card on the right side before she sat in the seiza position as she was at a table that had a picture of her mother and father on it with 1 lighted candle and white rose in a blue vase and purple vase on each side of them, closing her eyes and bowed her head as she prayed for her mother and father.

 _"Mommy... Daddy."_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin opened her eyes as she was done praying to the picture of her decreased parents. She stared at the pictures sadly.

"Daddy.. Mommy.. I've did better than last in the Academy. Aunt Kushina was always telling that you 2 always did great there..." Karin said. "She's also has been teaching me new jutsus lately. I'll get better soon." then stood up and grabbed her report card when she suddenly sensed Kushina and Naruto were coming to the house. "I'm going again Mommy and Daddy.."

Karin walked to the main shoji doors and she opened it up see Kushina and Naruto, in their usual outfits, were standing outside smiling.

"Hello Aunt Kushina.. Oniisan.." Karin greeted, looking at both of them.

"Well hello to you too, Karin-dear." Kushina greeted back smiling, looking down at her.

"Hi, Karin." Naruto greeted smiling.

"We can by to check up on you." Kushina said. "And to see how you did in school. Can I see your report card?"

"H-hai." Karin said then handed her report card to Kushina with her left hand.

Kushina took it from Karin and examined it for a minute before smiling brightly at her. "You're doing great. These are better than your cousin's." she said.

"Huh?" Naruto asked before taking the report card from his mother and looked closely at the report card. "You're right Mom." then handed back to Karin, who took it back.

Kushina started reaching into her right pocket. "Since both of you made passing grades, here is some money." she said, handing a few dollar bills to Karin. "You 2 can spend it on food, toys, or anything you want as long as it's in your age, okay."

"Okay." Naruto and Karin said together.

Karin grabbed the money from Kushina's left hand with her right hand and put it in her right pocket before she put her report card on the table before putting on her sandals and closed one of the main shoji doors with her left hand. Naruto and Karin walked together to go to the stores in the Village. Kushina waved to them with her right hand for a moment before she stopped and started to walk to her house.

...

When Naruto and Karin were now walking into the crowd of people.

"What should we do with the money that Aunt Kushina gave to us, Oniisan?" Karin asked, looking at Naruto.

"How about we go to Ichiraku Ramen first then we can head to the Dango Shop." Naruto said, looking at Karin.

"Hai." Karin said.

As they were walking to Ichiraku Ramen, Karin turned around for a second to see that mostly everyone was glaring or frowning at them as they passed by.

Karin looked forward. _"Are they glaring at us? Did me and Oniisan do something wrong?"_ she thought.

They finally made it to Ichiraku Ramen, it was a small restaurant that had white cloth that covered the top half with the restaurant's name written in red on it, six brown stools were inside of it. They entered to see a light brown skinned man that looked to be in his late 30's and had squinted eyes, dark grey hair, wearing a white round hat, a cream colored kimono shirt, brown pants, and grey sandals, and a fair skinned woman that looked to be in her mid teens and had long, dark brown hair that reached her back, large black eyes, wearing a white robe with the sleeves folded, a sort of dark blue apron with ribbon ties at the top, a bright white bandanna, brown sandals.

"Hello Naruto." the man greeted, smiling.

"It's good to see you 2 again." the woman said smiling.

"You 2 as well, Teuchi, Ayame." Karin said.

Naruto sat at the first stool and Karin sat at the second stool.

"What would you 2 like to order?" Teuchi asked.

"I would like a large serving of miso ramen with roasted pork fillet." Naruto said smiling.

"And I would like a shoyu ramen, please." Karin said.

"Coming right up." Teuchi said.

Teuchi and Ayame started making the 2 orders of ramen, within 15 minutes they served Naruto and Karin with the ramen they ordered.

"Here you 2 go, eat up." Ayame said.

Naruto and Karin reached for the paper wrapped chopsticks and pulled them apart and both said 'Itadakimasu' before they started eating.

 _"Why were those people staring at me and Oniisan like that?"_ Karin thought. _"I know that Oniisan pulled pranks on people dozens of times... but they never glared at him like that before..."_

20 minutes later.

Naruto and Karin were done eating. Karin had 2 bowls of shoyu ramen and Naruto had 5 bowls of miso ramen with roasted pork fillet.

"Should I put this on your tab?" Teuchi asked.

"No, we'll pay this time." Naruto said.

 _"But Teuchi, Ayame and people from our clan and clan allies don't give us those looks."_ Karin thought. _"Why are they doing that all of a sudden?"_

When Naruto and Karin were done they said 'thank you' before Karin paid for the meal and started heading to the Dango Shop. It took them awhile but they made it. It was a small rectangular orange building with dark green roofs on it, the shop's sign is in a form of a stick with white-coloured dango run through it. The hiragana for dango (だんご) is painted red on them. Naruto and Karin walked inside and looked around. The inside of the shop is simple with wooden tables, rectangular-shaped lights, and menus that hang all over the walls for customers to look at. There were a few people sitting at some of the seats.

Naruto and Karin walked over to an empty table with Naruto sitting on the left side and Karin sitting on the right side. They looked up the menus and started looked at them.

"What are you going to order, Oniisan?" Karin asked, looking up from the menu at Naruto.

"I think I'll get the tri colored dangos this time." Naruto said.

Suddenly a skinny lady with fair skin, who looked to be in her early 20's, had orange hair that reached a shoulder length, green eyes with pupils, wearing a short sleeved white shirt, long red pants, brown sandals, and a black apron, was holding a cream colored note pad and a pencil.

"Okay, are you 2 ready to order?" the woman asked.

Naruto looked up at her. "Yes, I would like the tri colored dangos and green tea." he said.

"Okay." the woman said, writing Naruto's order down and turned to Karin. "And what would you like?"

"I would like Mitarashi Dango, Tri Colored Dango, Chichi Dango, and green tea." Karin said, looking up at her.

The woman wrote down Karin's order and looked at them.

"Your orders will be ready in a little while." the woman said then walked off.

Naruto turned to Karin. "You order many dangos." he said.

"Well I really love to eat dangos and it's like when you love to eat many bowls of ramen at Ichiraku Ramen, Oniisan." Karin said smiling.

"I guess you're right about that." Naruto said smiling.

Within 10 minutes, the woman came back with a brown circular tray that had their orders on it

"Here's your Tri-colored dangos and tea." the woman said carefully placing the items in front of Naruto.

"Thanks." Naruto said smiling.

"And here's your Tri-colored, Mitarashi, Chichi Dangos, and green tea." the woman said, placing the items in front of Karin.

"Thank you, Miss." Karin said smiling.

"Enjoy." the woman said then left with the tray in her left hand.

Naruto and Karin started eating their dangos and sipped some of their tea.

"Hey, Karin." Naruto said.

"Huh?" Karin questioned.

"After we finish eating, you want to go to the mask shop in town?" Naruto said smiling. "They have really cool masks, dattebayo."

"Okay, Oniisan." Karin said smiling.

Naruto started eating again and Karin was about to start to eating until she looked forward and saw 2 men were glaring at them. Karin suddenly remembered the people that were glaring at them on the streets.

 _"They're doing it again.. but why?!"_ Karin thought.

"Karin?" Naruto asked.

Karin snapped out of her thoughts and looked to see Naruto was staring at her.

"Are you alright?" Naruto asked concerned.

"H-hai, Oniisan." Karin said. "It's nothing."

Karin started to drink some of her tea again and some of her Chichi dangos.

...

25 minutes later.

Naruto and Karin were done eating and placed some money on the table before they walked out of the Dango Shop and into the crowd of people.

"So what kinds of masks do you like at the Shop?" Karin asked, looking at Naruto.

"Well all of them are fine but there's one mask I want to have." Naruto said smiling, looking at her.

"What kind of mask would that be?" Karin asked curiously.

"It's a fox mask, I first saw it the other day and it looks really cool." Naruto said then looked forward. "I just hope no one bought it already."

"I can't wait to see it." Karin said.

After a minute they finally made it to the Mask Shop. They stepped in and looked around, the inside of it had mask all over the walls and the walls were dark purple, and a brown desk, brown chair, and a grey cash register was on the right side. A man that looked to be in his mid 30's had brown skin color, black eyes, short black hair, black mustache and beard, wearing a light brown hat, a beige long sleeved shirt, long brown pants, and brown sandals was sitting on the chair.

"There's the mask." Naruto said smiling, to the left side of the wall with his right hand.

Naruto walked over to it with Karin following him. They stopped and stared at it while smiling. The man noticed Naruto and Karin staring at the masks on the wall, he glared at them angrily before he made a fake smile, he stood from his chair and walked over to them.

"So have you 2 decided what you want to buy?" the man asked.

Naruto and Karin turned around and looked at the owner. Karin could sense immediately that something wasn't right.

"Um, we would like to purchase this fox mask on the wall please." Karin said shyly. _"But.. why just arrived here?"_ she thought.

"How about I give it to you for free?" the man questioned.

"No, we'll just pay for it." Naruto said.

"Are you sure?" the man asked.

"Yes, we're sure." Naruto said.

"Okay then." the man said before grabbing the fox mask from the wall with his right hand.

The man walked over to the register with Naruto and Karin following behind him. He told them the price of it before Karin paid for it.

"Here you go." the man said, handing the mask to them with his right hand.

"Thanks." Naruto said smiling, grabbing the mask with his left hand.

Naruto and Karin walked out of the Mask Shop, but Karin stopped as she was curious of everyone's behavior of her and Naruto. She hid outside of the shop and the man started talking about something.

"Finally, I thought those filthy Uzumakis would never leave especially that Nine-Tails brat." the man said annoyed. "They should just go back to Uzushiogakure."

Karin stood up and backed away in sadness and shock. _"But... what did we do? And Nine-Tails?"_ she thought.

Karin turned around and slowly slowly walked away with her head looking down sadly. As she was walking she looked up to see Naruto staring at her concerned.

"What's wrong Karin?" Naruto asked. "Are you alright?"

Karin stopped in front of Naruto, then made a small smile. "It's nothing Oniisan. I'm just a little tired, that's all." she lied.

"Are you sure?" Naruto questioned. "You disappeared for a moment."

"I'm fine, I promise." Karin said.

"Really." Naruto said.

"H-hai." Karin lied again.

"Well anyway, we should head back home." Naruto said then turned around and walked forward with Karin following behind him.

After a few minutes, Naruto and Karin made it back to the Uzumaki clan compound. They walked over to Minato and Kushina's house.

"Do you want to play outside?" Naruto asked smiling, looking at Karin.

"Hai, but can I talk to Aunt Kushina first?" Karin asked, looking at Naruto.

"Sure, I'll be waiting outside, dattebayo." Naruto said.

"Okay." Karin said.

When they made it Karin walked to the main shoji doors while Naruto decided to play outside with his new mask. Karin slid one of them open with her left hand and stepped in before sliding it closed. She took her sandals off at the door before she walked inside the house more. She sensed Kushina was in the kitchen, she walked towards it. She entered to see Kushina wearing a white apron over her usual outfit and was holding a silver laced over a boiling grey pot.

"Auntie Kushina." Karin said walking into the kitchen.

Kushina turned to the left to see Karin walking towards her.

"Oh hello, Karin." Kushina said smiling.

"Um Auntie Kushina, can I ask you a question?" Karin asked, stopping next to her.

Kushina put down the paddle near the stove. Sure Karin-dear, what is it?" she asked, looking down at her.

Karin looked down for a second before she looked back up at Kushina sadly. "Why were many people on the streets were glaring at me and Oniisan?" she asked.

"Huh?" Kushina asked, shocked and confused.

"When me and Oniisan left the Mask shop, I secretly heard the owner call us 'filthy Uzumakis and we should go back to Uzushiogakure'. And a!so something about the Nine-Tails." Karin said sadly.

Kushina look in shock and sad at what Karin just said, then she sighed sadly as she crouched down in front of her.

"Karin-dear, don't listen to them about that. There are some people in the Hidden Leaf Village who dislike the Uzumaki clan." Kushina said.

"Then why did they mentioned something called the Nine-Tails?" Karin asked.

"Well.. I can't tell you anything about it until you're older." Kushina said sadly.

"B-but A-aunt Kushina..." Karin said sadly but was cut off.

"Until you're older, okay." Kushina said.

Karin looked down sadly. "O-okay." she said.

Kushina suddenly hugged Karin comforting. "Don't worry, I'll tell your Uncle Minato about this." she said.

* * *

A few days later.

Day time.

Karin, in her usual outfit, was walking to the Uchiha clan compound. After her mother's sudden death she wanted to found out something about it. She knew she couldn't ask her Aunt Kushina about because she knew she wouldn't answer her questions.

 _"Mikoto has to know something about Mommy, after all they're friends."_ Karin thought.

Karin sensed that Sasuke and Itachi weren't in the Uchiha clan compound right now. When she made it to the entrance, she stopped and looked as she was now in front of Tekka, in his usual outfit, and Yashiro, in his usual outfit, who were glaring at down at her.

Karin made a sad face as she looked up and gasped frightened.

Tekka and Yashiro suddenly turned from anger to happy.

"Oh Karin, it's you." Yashiro said smiling.

Karin now made a curious face. "Huh?" she asked.

"Sorry we did that to you." Tekka said.

"I-it's okay." Karin said shyly.

"You can pass." Yashiro said.

Tekka and Yashiro moved out of the way for Karin to pass. Karin slowly walked passed and glanced back once before walking forward to Fugaku and Mikoto's house.

 _"That's weird why did they glare at me like that?"_ Karin thought curiously.

It took her a few minutes before she made it to the house, Karin walked up to the shoji doors and softly knocked on one of them a few times with her right hand before she stepped back a little and put her hands together as she waited patiently. She sensed a very familiar chakra coming to the shoji doors, within a moments one of the shoji doors slid open to reveal Mikoto, in her usual outfit and had a yellow apron over it, looking down at her.

"Hello there, Karin." Mikoto greeted smiling.

"Um, hello to you too, Mikoto." Karin greeted back shyly. "Can I please talk to you?"

"Of course you can, please come inside." Mikoto said, moving out of the way to let her in.

Karin stepped inside and took off her sandals at the doors before walking in any further.

Mikoto slid one of the shoji doors closed with her right hand. "I'll go bring us some tea. You can sit on the couch." she said before she walked to the kitchen.

Karin walked over to one of the two couches and sat down on the left side of it. She put her hands together on her lap and curiously looked around the house, seeing the furniture, pictures, and outside of the windows.

After a few minutes, Mikoto came into the living room with 2 beige cups with hot green tea in them.

Mikoto sat on the right side of the couch next to Karin. "Here you go, Karin." she said smiling, handing the a cup with her left hand.

Karin carefully grabbed the cup from Mikoto's left hand with both of her hands and took one sip before holding above her lap, looking down at it.

"So what did you want to talk about Karin?" Mikoto asked.

Karin sighed softly before she turned her head up to the right to look at Mikoto. "W-why d-did s-she d-die?" she whispered, stuttering.

"Huh, what?" Mikoto asked, making a confused face.

"W-why did my Mommy die?" she asked again, a bit louder.

Mikoto suddenly made a sad and shocked face at the question Karin asked her just now.

"Please tell me... I really have to know what happened." Karin said sadly.

Mikoto looked down sadly. "I-I can't tell you that until you're older.." she said.

Karin's eyes widened. "P-please I have to know." she said.

"Sorry, but I can't tell you right now." Mikoto said then looked down at her. "Karin your Mother and Father wouldn't want me, Fugaku, your Uncle Minato, your Aunt Kushina telling you about this kind of stuff at such a young age...T-they would want you to wait until you are older to find out, okay."

Karin looked down sadly. "H-hai." she said then turned forward, tears were forming in her eyes.

Mikoto saw the tears in Karin's and she put her cup down she hugged her comfortingly, making Karin surprised.

"Please don't be sad Karin. No one wants to see you cry anymore." Mikoto said, rubbing her head softly with her right hand.

Karin put her cup down on the table before she hugged Mikoto back, closing her eyes tightly as tears ran down her cheeks.

They stayed like that until Karin opened her eyes as she sensed a very familiar chakra coming to the house. Karin pulled out of the hug and slowly wiped her tears away from under her glasses with right hand.

"Huh, what's wrong Karin?" Mikoto asked concerned.

When Karin was done wiping her eyes she nodded no. "Nothing is wrong." she said.

Suddenly one of the shoji doors slid open to reveal Fugaku, in his flak jacket uniform, a wearing a Konoha flak jacket along with a black with the Konoha Military Police Force symbol (aka the Uchiha crest) on the shoulders, shin-guards, and a black, opened front apron with white diamond on the bottom, stepped in and took off his black sandals at the entrance before stepping in more to see his wife and Karin were staring at him.

"Oh hello Karin." Fugaku greeted closing the door. "What are you doing here?"

"W-well, um-" Karin stuttered, looking down but was cut off.

"She came here to talk to me about something, that's all." Mikoto said.

Karin up at Mikoto then at Fugaku.

"Oh." Fugaku said, stepping into the house more. "Karin."

"Huh?" Karin asked softly.

Fugaku walked over to an entry to exit the living room. "Come with me, I need to speak to you about something." he said and glanced at her before he exited the living room.

Karin thought about it for a moment before she slowly got off of the couch. "Um please excuse me Mikoto." she said softly, bowing before she exited the living room to follow Fugaku.

Mikoto watched as Karin left the living room before she looked down sadly. _"Uzume..."_ she thought.

...

Karin saw Fugaku turn on a light before entering a room down the hallway, she walked through the hallway entered the room where Fugaku entered to see him standing near a dark brown bookshelf, holding a beige rectangular picture frame with both hands. The room was a light green color and had dark brown coffee table on the left side of it and a dark bookshelf. Karin slid the door closed before she walked over to where Fugaku was and stopped on the left side of him.

Karin looked up at Fugaku.

"Me and your father were best friends." Fugaku said. "He always was a great member of the team." then gave the picture frame to Karin. "Look this was taken 3 weeks before our mission."

Karin carefully took the picture frame from Fugaku with both hands and looked down at it closely, it was picture of her father, in his usual outfit, Minato, in past usual outfit, and Fugaku, in his flak jacket uniform, were all smiling. Minato was standing on the right side, Fugaku was standing on the left side, and her father was standing in the middle. Karin made a small smile for a second before it was turned back into a frown.

 _"Daddy..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin looked at the picture one last time before she slowly gave it back to Fugaku. Fugaku took the picture from Karin with his left hand and placed it on the top shelf of the bookshelf.

"He gave me a power before he died." Fugaku said, looking down at Karin.

"A power?" Karin questioned confused.

"Hai. A power that only an Uchiha can have when they witness the death of someone close to them, it's called the Mangekyou Sharingan." Fugaku explained.

Karin put her hands together near her chest, she was a little scared of the unknown power already but she was happy because her helped Fugaku create the unknown power.

"Do you want to see it?" Fugaku asked Karin.

"H-hai." Karin said softly, nodding.

Fugaku kneeled in front of Karin and closed his eyes and a few seconds later he opened them, revealing that his eyes were now red and black the design was three dots followed by three curves spiralling counter-clockwise around the pupil.

"This is the power your father gave me when he passed away." Fugaku said.

Karin's eyes widened and stepped forward a little as she stared curiously at Fugaku 's eyes, they were really cool.

"They're... amazing..." Karin said astounded.

"There are many designs of the Mangekyou Sharingan." Fugaku said, inactivating his Mangekyou Sharingan.

"Woah..." Karin whispered.

"You must not tell anyone about this." Fugaku said said, standing back up.

"Okay." Karin said, looking up at him.

Fugaku folded his arms together. "So has anything happened to you over the past few weeks?" he asked.

Karin gasped before she looked down at the ground shyly. "W-well a few days ago me and Oniisan were in the Village to go eat at Ichiraku Ramen and the Dango Shop a-and I noticed many people were glaring at us on the streets and the buildings..." she said sadly. "I overheard the store owner said we were 'Filthy Uzumaki and we should go back to Uzushiogakure and something about the Nine-Tails.

Fugaku was angry at what Karin explained at what happened to her in the Village but hid it.

"But... I don't know what we've done to them for people to glare at us like that." Karin said, looking up at Fugaku again.

"I'm sorry that has to you and your cousin were." Fugaku said.

"It's okay... my Aunt Kushina said that I shouldn't listen to them." Karin said smiling sadly.

Fugaku put his right hand on Karin's left shoulder. "You won't have to worry about that problem anymore it will be over soon." he said.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Karin asked confused.

"You'll see." Fugaku said as took his right hand off of Karin's left shoulder.

Karin gasped as she suddenly sensed Itachi and Sasuke were coming to the house, which was a bad thing right now because she didn't she want Sasuke to see her here.

"What's wrong?" Fugaku asked her.

"N-nothing, I have go home to do something right now. Goodbye." Karin said then bowed to Fugaku before walking to the exit and slid the door open with her right hand and stepped out before sliding the door closed.

Karin walked down the hallway and back into the living room to see that Mikoto was no longer inside. She heard water running in the kitchen and sensed Mikoto's chakra in there as well. She quietly walked over to the shoji doors and put her sandals back on before she one of the doors open with her right hand and stepped outside before slowly sliding one of them closed. Karin ran as she hid quickly behind a nearby house as she sensed Itachi's and Sasuke's chakras were rapidly approaching.

Karin waited for awhile before she sensed Itachi's and Sasuke's chakras were now walking towards their house. She poked her head out to see Itachi, wearing a Konoha Anbu flak jacket uniform, a high collared short sleeved grey shirt, black pants with a dark blue shuriken holster strapped to the left side of his legs and a beige pouch on the back, a grey flak jacket with a grey sword strapped on his back, white tape tied to the bottom part of his legs, grey metal arm guards and gloves, his Konohagakure forehead protector, and grey sandals, and Sasuke, wearing an almost identical Konoha Anbu uniform to Itachi, a high collared short sleeved grey shirt, a grey flak jacket with a red arrow quiver on the that was filled with arrows, black pants with a light brown pouch on the back of it, white tape tied to the bottom part of his legs, black arm warmers, and dark blue sandals. She also noticed that Sasuke was holding a red bow in his left hand.

Karin's eyes widened as she stared at Sasuke in admiration. _"H-he looks... really... amazing..."_ she thought lightly blushing.

After a moment, Karin blushed furiously and closed her eyes before she shook her head. She opened her eyes as she stopped and put her right hand near her chest, looking down.

 _"Huh? Why would I think that way of Sasuke?! We're just friends."_ Karin thought then she stopped blushing and looked where Sasuke was at.

Sasuke was smiling as he was talking to Itachi about something.

 _"But... still.. h-he does look... incredible..."_ Karin thought smiling shyly and blushing lightly. She shook her head again to snap herself out of it. _"I-I should go home..."_ she took one more glance at Sasuke, who was almost to their house with Itachi, before she quietly ran.

...

"Let me put something away before we start training." Itachi said.

"Hai, Niisan." Sasuke said nodding.

Itachi and Sasuke made it to their house. As Itachi slid the shoji doors open with his left hand, Sasuke turned to a building as he thought he felt someone was hiding there.

"Sasuke?" Itachi asked.

Sasuke snapped out of his thoughts and looked up at Itachi.

"Is something wrong?" Itachi asked.

"No, I thought someone was hiding behind that house." Sasuke said. "Just my imagination."

Itachi stepped inside then Sasuke.

"We're home!" Itachi said.

Mikoto came from the kitchen and smiled at her 2 sons. "Welcome back Itachi, Sasuke." she said.

After a few seconds, Fugaku came in with his arms folded.

"Dear?" Mikoto asked, making a curious face.

"Hmm?" Fugaku asked, looking at her.

"Where's Karin? I don't see her with you." Mikoto questioned.

Sasuke's eyes widened at what their mother just asked. _"Karin... was here?"_ he thought.

"Oh she left recently. She said she has to go back home to do something." Fugaku said.

 _"So.. I wasn't imagining it.. she must have been the one at the building..."_ Sasuke thought then put his bow down on the right side of the entrance. "Niisan."

Itachi turned to the right to look down at Sasuke. "Yes." he said.

Sasuke took off his arrow quiver and placed it next to his bow. "Can you meet me at the training grounds in a minute? I have to talk to Karin first." he said.

"Sure." Itachi said.

"I'll be right back." Sasuke said before he ran out of the door to find Karin.

...

Karin was almost 50 feet away from the Uchiha clan compound and was now walking back to the Uzumaki clan compound.

 _"M-maybe I shouldn't have left early like that.. we've known each other since we were infants..."_ Karin thought.

Karin suddenly stopped as she sensed Sasuke's chakra was quickly coming to her direction.

"Karin!" a boy's voice yelled.

Karin turned around to see Sasuke running towards her.

"Karin wait!" Sasuke yelled.

"S-sasuke." Karin whispered.

Karin waited for Sasuke to catch up to her. Within 15 seconds, Sasuke was now close to Karin.

"Why did you come without telling me, Karin?" Sasuke asked.

Karin put her hands together near her chest and looked down. "U-um, I-I'm so sorry Sasuke but I was there to talk to your Mom about my Mommy and you were busy with Itachi today I didn't want to bother you." she said shyly.

Sasuke rarely spent anytime with Itachi because of his work in the Anbu Black Ops. So he and Karin would spend time together.

"You don't have to apologize Karin, it was important to you to find more out about your Mother. I can help you next time, okay." Sasuke said smiling. "It would've been great for you to help me and Oniisan."

"H-hai." Karin said blushing softly as her was a little open. _"Sasuke... you are very nice..."_ she thought.

...

6 days later.

Daytime.

Academy.

Iruka and his class were standing outside on a clear dirt area that had a large white circle on it and there was a fence that was between it and one of the Academic sections of the Academy that was a white building. Iruka was holding a brown clipboard with his left hand.

Karin was standing beside Sasuke, in his usual outfit, on the left side while Naruto decided to look for strong opponents on the far left of them. Most of the students were wondering what Iruka was going to teach them next.

"Okay kids, you all are going to learn how to spar with one another." Iruka said, turned to face them. "It's a tradition and it matters, listen carefully." he held up 2 fingers from his right hand. "First you always face and make this one handed sign toward your opponent before starting, it represents half of the 2 hands use to activate a jutsu and indicates your intention to fight. Now we call this the 'Spar Sign'. When you finish sparing and the battle is concluded you each extend forth the 'Unison Sign' and lock your fingers around each other's, this indicates that you recognize as comrades. That's the etiquette of Shinobi hand-to-hand combat." then put his right hand down. "I call 2 students name's and you spar with each, everyone will get to fight more 4 times."

Karin heard every word that Iruka explained to them and looked to the left to see Naruto had a bored expression on his face then turned forward.

 _"B-but... I-I don't want to fight anyone... especially not Oniisan and Sasuke..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Iruka raised up his clipboard and looked at it. "The first ones are Ino Yamanaka and Hinata Hyuga." he said then looked up. "You 2 step forward."

Ino, in her usual outfit, and Hinata, in her usual outfit, stepped forward from where they were standing. Ino was on the left side and Hinata was on the right side. Ino glanced at Sasuke before her and Hinata raise their right hands and make the 'Spar Sign' before pulling away.

"Begin!" Iruka yelled.

Ino ran over to Hinata and raised left hand as she was preparing to hit her. But Hinata dodged it and did a move on Ino, who fell down to the ground, that most of them didn't recognize.

Sasuke turned his head towards Karin. "Karin." he said.

"Y-yes." Karin said shyly.

"Do you know what kind of move is Hinata doing?" Sasuke asked.

"It's called Gentle Fist. It is a form of hand-to-hand combat used by members of the Hyūga clan." Karin explained.

"Oh." Sasuke said then he turned forward.

Karin turned forward and began watching the sparing match again.

Ino got up and dusted herself off before she looked at Hinata.

"You may have skills but you're no match for me." Ino said then ran to Hinata again.

Most of the students which included Sakura cheered for Ino to win while only Naruto and Kiba cheered for Hinata.

 _"You can do this Hinata."_ Karin thought.

Hinata used gentle fist again only for Ino to dodge all of the attacks. Ino dodged again before she used her right foot to trip both of Hinata's legs, making her fall to the ground with a thud. Ino was about to attack her on the ground when Hinata gasped and shielded herself with her arms, causing Ino to stop midway.

"Stop!" Iruka yelled.

Ino crouched down and gave Hinata her right hand. "Come on, let me help you up." she said.

Hinata unshielded herself and looked at Ino's right hand before she slowly raised her left hand and carefully grabbed it. Ino lifted Hinata up from the ground and let go of her hand.

"Now you 2 make the 'Unison Sign'." Iruka said.

Ino and Hinata both held their index and middle finger from their right hand before they linked them together to make the 'Unison Sign' before pulling them away. Ino and Hinata left and returned to where they were standing.

"Unison Sign complete." Iruka said then looked at his clipboard again. "Next up is Sasuke Uchiha and.. Karin Uzumaki, step forward you 2." he said.

 _"W-w-what?"_ Karin thought shocked. _"B-but I-I don't want to fight him or anyone else."_

"Step forward you 2." Iruka said, looking up from his clipboard.

Sasuke and Karin walked up and with Sasuke standing on the right and Karin was standing on the left. Most of the girls cheered for Sasuke to win and defeat Karin. While Naruto was the only one cheering for Karin defeat Sasuke.

"Now make the 'Spar Sign'." Iruka said.

Sasuke and Karin raise their left hands and make the 'Spar Sign'.

"Begin!" Iruka yelled.

"U-um Iruka-sensei." Karin said turning her head towards him, shyly.

"Yes Karin." Iruka said.

"W-well I-I-" Karin said shyly but was cut off when Sasuke suddenly spoke.

"I forfeit." Sasuke said.

Everyone looked at Sasuke in shocked. The girls that were cheering for him were really shocked at this.

"I don't want to fight Karin and she doesn't want to me either." Sasuke said.

 _"S-sasuke."_ Karin thought.

Iruka sighed. "Make the 'Unison Sign'." he said.

Sasuke and Karin slowly stepped forward, he extended his left index and middle fingers while Karin shyly extended hers. Karin was blushed lightly when her and Sasuke's left hands touched. When they were finished they both walked back to where they were standing. Most of the girls were now glaring at Karin, making her cower away from Sasuke a little.

Iruka continued to call 2 students each to spar with each other. First it was 4 random students, next it was Naruto vs Choji which resulted in Choji winning, Kiba vs Ino which resulted in Ino winning, Sasuke vs Shikamaru which resulted in Sasuke winning, and Kiba vs Shino which resulted in Shino winning.

Iruka looked at his clipboard again. "Alright, next up is Naruto Uzumaki." he said.

"Yes, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled.

".. And Karin Uzumaki." Iruka finished.

"What?" Naruto asked confused.

"Huh?" Karin gasped softly, surprised at what Iruka just said.

Karin suddenly heard whispers from some of the students now, saying that 'brother and sister have to fight each other', this is interesting to see them fight', and others.

"Step forward you 2." Iruka said, looking up from his clipboard.

Naruto and Karin slowly stepped forward, he stood on the right side while she stood on the left side. Karin put her hands together near her chest, looking sadly at Naruto, while Naruto looked at Karin with worried eyes. Everyone was silent as they watched.

"Now make the 'Spar Sign'." Iruka said.

Naruto extended his right index and middle fingers while Karin shyly extended her index and middle fingers.

"Begin!" Iruka yelled.

 _"O-oniisan... I don't want to fight you..."_ Karin thought.

Naruto looked down and closed his eyes. "Iruka-sensei." he said.

"What is it?" Iruka asked, looking at him.

"I'm not fighting my sister." Naruto said then opened his eyes.

Most of the students were surprised because Naruto wouldn't back down from a fight even if he lost previously in one.

"So this means you forfeit." Iruka said.

"Hai." Naruto said.

Iruka looked and sighed. "Make the 'Unison Sign'." he said.

Naruto and Karin slowly stepped forward, he extended his left index and middle fingers while Karin shyly extended hers as well. When they were done they walked back to the spot they were standing previously.

Iruka started to call more students to spar with one another. Next up was Sakura vs Hinata which resulted in Sakura winning, 1 random male student vs 1 random female student which resulted in the random female student winning, Choji vs Shikamaru which resulted with Shikamaru forfeiting and Choji not wanting to fight Shikamaru, Shino vs Ino which resulted in Shino winning, Sasuke vs Naruto which resulted in Sasuke winning easily, Ino vs Sakura which resulted in Ino winning easily.

"Next up is Sakura Haruno..." Iruka said, looking at his clipboard again.

"Again already." Sakura said.

"And Karin Uzumaki." Iruka said then looked up from his clipboard.

 _"Oh no... not again..."_ Karin thought.

"Step forward you 2 and make the 'Spar Sign'." Iruka said.

Karin and Sakura stepped forward, Sakura stood on the left side while Karin stood on the right side. Sakura extended her right index and middle fingers while Karin shyly extended her index and middle fingers.

"Begin!" Iruka yelled.

Sakura ran over to Karin and prepared to punch her with her right fist. Karin gasped and quickly dodged Sakura's attacked and landed on the far left side. Sakura turned her head towards Karin and ran after her as she prepared to kick her with her left leg. Karin kept dodging as Sakura was now trying to punch her.

Some of the girls (especially Ino) was cheering for Sakura to win. While only Naruto cheering for Karin.

Karin stopped and stood still as Sakura was standing a few feet from her. Sakura ran at Karin again to hit her with her right hand. Karin watched Sakura came at her, she instantly became frightened before she crouched down to the ground and covered her face. Sakura stopped in front of Karin and looked down at her as she lowered her hands to her sides.

"Stop!" Iruka yelled.

Sakura backed away from Karin and looked at Iruka.

"That's enough." Iruka said. "Make the 'Unison Sign'."

Karin slowly stood up and extended her left index and middle fingers as Sakura did the same. When they were done they headed back to where they were standing previously.

30 minutes later.

"Okay that's enough sparing, we'll continue some other time." Iruka said. "Let's head back to the classroom."

"Yes, Sensei." Most of the students said as they started walking to a light grey building.

"Karin." Iruka said.

Karin stopped walking and looked at Iruka. "Y-yes." she said shyly.

"I need to speak with you for a moment." Iruka said.

"O-okay." Karin said shyly.

"I'll wait for you at the desk." Sasuke said.

"H-hai." Karin said shyly, blushing furiously.

Sasuke then walked away with the other students. Karin walked over to where Iruka was standing at and was now in front of him, looking up at him.

"Karin." Iruka said, looking down at her. "Why do you refuse to attack anyone when sparing?"

Karin looked down. "Well... I don't want to hurt anyone.." she said.

Iruka sighed before he crouched down to Karin's height. "You're going to have to fight soon, because in a few years you'll become a ninja and you'll have to fight to protect yourself and your team mates." he said.

Karin looked at Iruka again.

"Your family and other people you care about won't be there to protect you from danger forever." Iruka said.

Karin's eyes widened as she was now sad at what Iruka just said to her.

Iruka stood up. "Let's head back to the classroom with the other students. I have another lesson to teach." he said before he turned around and walking to the building.

Karin stared at Iruka as he was walking away before she looked down at the ground sadly before tears formed in her eyes, running down her face.

* * *

1 week later.

Night time.

Karin was walking down the upper hallway of her house, looking down sadly. She was thinking about what Iruka said to her a few days ago.

 _Flashback._

 _"Your family and other people you care about won't be there to protect you from danger forever." Iruka said._

 _Flashback ends._

 _"Mommy and Daddy were great and powerful ninjas when they were still alive... I'll never become a ninja like they were..."_ Karin thought as she stopped.

Karin suddenly looked up and turned to the left as she noticed that she was in front of her parents room. She stared at the closed door in shock as she hasn't been in the room since her mother passed away.

As Karin continued to walk through the room she stepped the wooden floor with her left foot and she suddenly heard a loud squeak. She looked down and noticed the wooden floor was lighter, she pressed her left foot on the wooden floor again and it squeak loudly than before.

 _"That's strange.. the floor wasn't like this before.."_ she thought.

Karin crouched down on the floor and carefully lifted the wooden board out of place and set it down next to her on the right and looked to see 2 scrolls inside, one was brown and dark brown and one was beige. She picked the brown one with her left hand and the beige one with her right hand, the brown was in her father's signature and the beige was in her mother's signature.

Karin noticed that the brown read _'To Fugaku, from Ryou'_ and the beige one read _'To Mikoto, from Uzume'._

 _"Why would Mommy and Daddy hide these scrolls.. if they wanted to give it to Fugaku and Mikoto...?"_ Karin thought confused. _"I should deliver these to them."_

Karin put both the bscrolls down next to her before she placed the wooden board back on the floor and picked the scrolls up with both hands and stood up before she walked out of parents room. She walked down the hallway, the stairs, and into the living room. She walked over to the pictures of her mother and father on the table and bowed to them.

"I'm off, Mommy.. Daddy.." Karin said then stopped bowing.

Karin walked over to the main shoji doors and put on her sandals before she slid opened one of the doors with her right hand and stepped out and closed it behind her. She started walking to the Uchiha clan compound, it took her almost 15 minutes but she made it. She noticed something strange was going on, she didn't sense Tekka and Yashiro at the front gate. She stopped and looked around.

"I wonder why no one is here?" Karin said to herself curiously.

Karin suddenly sensed all of the Uchihas except (Sasuke and other young Uchiha children) were gathered in a place nearby. She decided to walk there to see what's going on. When she made there she saw most of the Uchihas were walking from the Naka shrine, a large brown and red building with a large red gate that had the Uchiha crest on it, near it, and were walking down the grey concrete stairs.

Karin stopped a few feet from the stairs and almost immediately spotted Fugaku and Mikoto walking down the stairs.

 _"Why did they gather in the Naka Shrine?"_ Karin thought curiously.

The Uchihas stopped and looked at Karin, who was staring back at them. Fugaku and Mikoto ran over to Karin and stopped right in front of her.

"Karin what you doing here?" Fugaku asked.

"I-I'm sorry, I just wanted to give you 2 these scrolls that Mommy and Daddy forgot to give to you." Karin said sadly then showed them the scrolls.

"Huh?" Fugaku questioned.

"What?" Mikoto questioned.

Fugaku and Mikoto looked down at the scrolls in shock and curiosity. They slowly took the scrolls from Karin's hands that was addressed to them and unfolded them and looked before they started reading them. Their eyes looked at all the words as they read through them and looked at one another's. When Fugaku and Mikoto were done reading they folded the scrolls and looked down at Karin sadly.

"So... what did the scrolls say?" Karin asked curiously.

Mikoto crouched down in front of Karin. "I'm sorry sweetie... but we'll have to tell you when you're older..." she said putting both her hands on Karin's shoulders.

"B-but-" Karin said sadly but she was cut off.

"We will tell you that it is about the peace and friendship with them and the village." Mikoto said smiling sadly.

Suddenly 2 members of the Uchiha clan, the man looked to be in his late 40's and had tan skin, short cropped grey hair, his eyes were closed but had charcoal black eyes, wearing a beige-coloured long-sleeved kimono shirt, a beige-coloured pair of pants and brown sandals, and a woman who looked to be in her late 40's and had fair skin, black hair tied in a knot on top of her head with bangs framing her face, charcoal black eyes, wearing a brown full body dress with a white long sleeved shirt underneath, and beige sandals walked over to them. Their names were Teyaki and Uruchi Uchiha.

"Um, Fugaku-sama." Teyaki said, when both he and his wife made it to them.

Fugaku, Mikoto, and Karin turned to Teyaki and Uruchi.

"What is it?" Fugaku asked, folding his arms.

"We need to talk to you and Mikoto-sama." Teyaki said.

Fugaku and Mikoto turned and looked back at Karin.

"I'm so sorry about this Karin, but you have to go back home now." Mikoto said sadly.

Karin looked at Fugaku and Mikoto. "H-hai." she said, looking down.

"You can come back some other time." Mikoto said, taking her hands off of Karin's shoulders.

Karin turned around and started walking, she suddenly thought the Uchiha clan coming out of the Naka Shrine was suspicious. The Uzumaki clan of course had meetings discussing information but not like that.

 _"Why were they surprised to see me?"_ Karin thought. _"Everything is strange right now."_

Karin noticed that many people in the Konohagakure were shunning the Uchiha clan and the Uzumaki clan. The Uzumaki clan were doing peaceful solutions about it, but the Uchiha clan not so much, both clans were helping each other with this problem so nothing would result in anything worse. But she didn't get any answers from her Aunt, Uncle, or any adult in the 2 clans and she wasn't going to ask Itachi about it.

 _"I wonder why they won't tell me the truth?"_ Karin thought, looking back at Mikoto and Fugaku.

* * *

1 month later.

Night time.

Karin was walking back to the Uzumaki clan compound after watching Sasuke and Naruto train with their shurikens and went to the Dango Shop by herself while Sasuke went home and Naruto went with Kushina to the Hokage Mansion to talk about something. She was thinking about all of the events that has happened over the past few weeks. After she gave the scrolls to Fugaku and Mikoto, the Uchiha clan had calmed down and Konohagakure's treatment on the Uchiha clan and the Uzumaki clan has lessened over time. She also sensed that some of the Uchihas clan's chakras disappearing as well.

 _"Many strange things are happening all of a sudden."_ Karin thought. _"I wonder why they are?"_

Karin stopped in her tracks as her eyes were widening as she suddenly sensed chakras were disappearing by the second. She looked into the location the many chakras disappeared, which was in the Uzumaki clan compound.

 _"W-w-what? W-what's happening?"_ Karin thought shocked and scared.

Karin noticed the chakras that was making other chakras disappear was very familiar.

"N-no... I-it can't be... h-him." Karin whispered, shocked.

Karin quickly ran to the Uzumaki clan compound to see what's happening for herself. It took her a few minutes, when she made it a foot inside of the Uzumaki clan, she stopped in her tracks and looked in horror at the dead bodies on the ground, shurikens and kunais were either on the buildings or in the people. She put her hands over her mouth and started to cry before she sensed more chakras disappear further ahead of her.

Karin slowly stepped forward while she sadly looked down her clan's lifeless bodies. As she made it to the location where the chakras were disappearing now, she looked up to see Itachi, in his Anbu uniform, was killing a Uzumaki man in near the house with his sword in his right hand. The man fell lifeless on the ground when Itachi pulled his sword back, blood puddled around the dead man.

Karin watched the whole thing, it scared her and gasped. Itachi heard the gasp and looked to see Karin standing almost 6 feet away from him, looking at him shock, scared, and sad and having both her hands over her mouth. Karin looked into Itachi's eyes and saw that they were black and red designed in, three black spiralling curves around the pupil, they were cold. Itachi faced his body towards Karin.

 _"T-that must be his mangekyou sharingan Fugaku explained to me weeks ago..."_ Karin thought.

Karin slowly took her hands from over her mouth and put them together near her chest, she sadly looked down at all of the dead bodies before she looked at him again.

"I-itachi... w-why did you kill them...?" Karin whispered sadly to him then she closed her eyes. "J-just why? The Uchiha clan and the Uzumaki clan have been close allies.. for generations..."

Itachi reached into his pouch with his left hand and pulled out a shuriken.

Karin slowly opened her eyes again. "... I-I just don't know why would you do something like thi-" she stopped and her eyes widened when she saw Itachi threw a shuriken at her.

The shuriken flew past her on the right side and landed on a house behind her. She suddenly felt a sting and something wet slide down the right side of her face. She put slowly put her right hand on her right cheek and looked down at it to see blood on it. She looked at Itachi in shock.

"You really are foolish like my little brother and our 2 clans." Itachi said cold and harshly.

 _"Huh? S-sasuke.. did he do something to him...?"_ Karin thought worriedly.

"W-what did you do to Sasuke?" Karin said sadly and worriedly.

"He's unconscious right now..." Itachi said.

Karin was relieved to hear that but she didn't show it.

"He'll be dead soon just like you will be." Itachi said.

Karin backed away a little in fright.

"But let me show you something before I kill you." Itachi said before his eyes widened at Karin. "You'll be joining some of the others soon."

 _"Wait?! Others...? So that means some of the clan are still... alive..."_ Karin thought.

Karin suddenly felt this wave of energy and the scene change to the people that Itachi killed was alive again and the background was red and everyone was doing what they usually do. She wanted to warn them.

"Everyone please hide! Itachi going to kill you!" Karin yelled.

The people still continued what they did.

"Please listen!" Karin yelled.

But the people still continued what they did.

 _"They couldn't.. hear me.. They can't even see me either..."_ Karin thought. _"... And why can't I move my legs...?"_ she moved but nothing.

Karin saw Itachi was standing behind one of the men before he raised his sword with his right hand and struck him down. She gasped loudly as she was horrified at this as she saw blood splatter on one of the houses and ground then she saw Itachi kill more people, she tried to cover her eyes but her hands couldn't move. Tears welled up in her eyes as she watched sadly.

 _"Please stop it Itachi, I don't want to see anymore!"_ Karin thought.

Sasuke appeared in front of her, making Karin even more sad.

"No, please no!" Karin yelled.

Sasuke fell lifeless near her, Karin's eyes widened at this as sadness built up inside of her. Karin yelled loudly as she closed her eyes, tears running down her cheeks as she covered her face with her hands, she fell to her knees. She felt the wave of energy leave and heard footsteps, she removed her hands a little from her face as she saw Itachi walking towards with the sword still in his right hand. She got up and ran to get away from Itachi, she turned a corner to get to the Uzumaki clan compound entrance. She quickly suppressed her chakra just in case Itachi can sense her.

 _"I don't want to die! I have to find Uncle Minato quickly!"_ Karin thought.

As Karin was almost to the entrance she stopped in her tracks when she saw Itachi step out from the shadows was now in front of the entrance.

 _"He's... really fast..."_ Karin thought.

Karin looked to the left and to the right and she that the right leads to the forest, she ran in that direction and within seconds she was running through the trees.

 _"I have to get away from him... but he's too fast..."_ Karin thought.

Once again, Karin stopped in her tracks as Itachi was standing a few feet away from her. Itachi began to walk towards her again and Karin fell to her knees again and looked sadly at him as he approached her.

 _"Is this... the end for me..?"_ Karin thought then looked down. _"Mommy.. Daddy, I'll see you soon..."_

Itachi was now in front of Karin and raised his sword with his right hand. Karin closed her eyes as she waited for the sword to strike her. She suddenly heard footsteps and felt herself being picked up bridal style before she felt the person jump high. She slowly opened her eyes to see Sasuke was holding her bridal style and was hoping from tree to tree.

"S-sasuke." Karin whispered.

Sasuke looked at her worried. "Sorry I almost didn't come in time, but I'm glad that Itachi didn't kill you." he said then turned forward.

Karin stared at Sasuke in curiosity for a moment before she noticed that the top of Sasuke's left sleeve was ripped and so was some of his skin and his clothes were a little dirty. She was about to tell Sasuke about when she suddenly looked up and Itachi was above them.

"S-sasuke, Itachi is above us..." Karin whispered then wrapped her around his waist.

Sasuke looked up and glared at Itachi and looked back down at Karin, who now has her head buried in his chest and was whimpering in fear. He hated to see Karin sad and scared at what Itachi has done to both of their clans, he moved out of the way when Itachi threw a shuriken at them and landed on the ground near a tree. Sasuke thought about something before he looked down at Karin.

"Karin." Sasuke said.

Karin looked up from Sasuke's shirt. "Y-yes, Sasuke?" she asked.

"I'll be right back. You have to stay here." Sasuke said.

"B-but, Sasuke. Please don't go, I'm scared." Karin said tears welling up in her eyes as she clutched Sasuke's shirt more.

"I promise I'll be back. Itachi will still try to kill us." Sasuke said.

"P-please don't go." Karin whispered sadly.

Sasuke looked forward and saw Itachi was walking away from them and back at Karin again.

"I'm sorry, Karin... but I have to do this..." Sasuke said, closing his eyes.

Sasuke carefully placed Karin next to a tree and looked at her one last time. "I'll be right back." he said then ran towards Itachi.

"S-sasuke." Karin whispered crying as she put her right hand. "P-please... please come back..."

Karin watched Sasuke made it over to where Itachi was and both Itachi and Sasuke disappeared. Karin unsuppressed her chakra as she wanted to make sure that Sasuke was still alive, she sensed that they were almost far away. She rolled up into a ball as she cried even.

 _"I've lost... my Daddy.. my Mommy.. and now s-some of the Uchiha and Uzumaki clan members... I don't want to lose anyone else..."_ Karin thought sadly, closing her eyes.

10 minutes have passed and Sasuke wasn't back yet from going after Itachi. Karin was even more worried than before.

 _"S-sasuke.. please be okay..."_ Karin thought.

In a matter of seconds, Karin suddenly opened her eyes as she sensed Sasuke was coming back to her location and Itachi was leaving the village. She looked to the location where Sasuke was coming from to see that he was slowly walking back with his eyes closed. She noticed immediately that something was wrong with Sasuke, his clothes were slightly more dirtier, he was panting while holding his left arm, and his chakra had decreased.

 _"W-what did.. what did Itachi do to him..?"_ Karin thought.

When Sasuke made it over to Karin, he crouched down in front of her.

"S-sasuke.. are you alright?" Karin asked worried.

Sasuke smiled softly. "I'm fine.. I'm just glad you're alright." he said opening his eyes.

Karin's eyes widened as she gasped in shock as she looked into Sasuke's eyes, they were black and red. "S-sasuke... your eyes." she whispered.

The design of Sasuke's eyes were mostly red with a small black dot and one tomoe in each one of his eyes.

"Huh, my eyes?" Sasuke asked, confused.

"I think.. you've activated your Sharingan..." Karin said.

Sasuke raised his left hand and was about to touch the upper part of his face until he closed his eyes as he grunted in pain.

"Sasuke!" Karin said worriedly.

Sasuke continued to grunt in pain then seconds later he fainted and his landed on Karin. Karin grabbed him and softly hugged Sasuke's unconscious body.

"Sasuke... Sasuke, please wake up..." Karin said, shaking him a little.

Sasuke was still conscious. Karin closed her eyes and started to cry again.

 _"Why... why are these things happening...?"_ Karin thought.

"Karin!" a woman's voice called.

Karin opened her eyes as she sensed many familiar chakras nearby which 3 of them included Fugaku, Mikoto, and her Uncle Minato, Aunt Kushina, and Naruto.

"They're finally... here.." Karin whispered to herself.

Karin tried to get up while still holding Sasuke only to find herself back on the ground again.

 _"W-w-what?"_ Karin thought shocked.

Karin suddenly felt her chakra decreasing rapidly.

 _"It... must have been... from that technique... Itachi placed on me... before..."_ Karin thought weakly.

Karin felt her eyes were getting heavier as she was going unconscious, she still heard her name being called. Before she knew it she was unconscious with Sasuke.

* * *

Karin softly groaned as she opened her eyes and saw darkness, she looked around and only saw more darkness.

 _"Where.. where am I?"_ Karin thought.

"You're nowhere." a male voice said.

Karin's eyes widened and she felt her heart stop as she immediately recognized the voice. She turned around to see Itachi, in his Anbu uniform, with his Mangekyou Sharingan on.

"H-hai... you left the village..." Karin said scared.

"I came back to kill you and the rest of our 2 clans." Itachi said.

Karin gasped as she took a step backwards. Itachi pulled out out his sword with his right hand before he walked over to Karin. As Karin stepped back more in fear she suddenly couldn't move.

 _"I-I can't move..."_ Karin thought.

"I've already placed you under my genjutsu." Itachi said. "This way you can't run."

Karin continued to struggle to move but nothing, she watched as Itachi walked closer to her. She felt her eyes welled up with tears as she looked sad and scared at Itachi.

Itachi was now in front of Karin. "This is the end for you." he said before he raised his sword.

Karin closed her eyes tightly as tears continued to run down her face, waiting for Itachi to swing his sword at her.

"Karin!" a male voice yelled.

"Karin!" another male voice yelled.

"H-huh?" Karin asked, squinting her eyes open. "O-oniisan... S-sasuke..." she whispered.

Before Itachi could strike Karin with his sword at Karin, a bright white light appeared.

Karin slowly opened her eyes as she now noticed she was lying on a hospital bed. She moved her eyes around to see Naruto and Sasuke were on the left side of her and Fugaku, Mikoto, Minato, and Kushina were on the right side of her. It was Daytime again.

"Karin, thank goodness you're awake." Kushina said smiling.

"We're so worried about you, dattebayo." Naruto said.

 _"It was... all a dream..."_ Karin thought.

Karin slowly moved her head to the right to see Kushina were slightly red eyed to her crying. Karin could feel a bandage on the right side of her cheek then she suddenly remembered what happened last night with Itachi. Karin almost immediately raised the her top self up and looked around.

"Please stay in bed, you have to rest." Kushina said holding her down.

"B-but, h-he's.." Karin said sadly but was cut off.

"Itachi is.. longer in the Konoha." Kushina said.

Karin stopped struggling and sat on the bed and looked at Fugaku and Mikoto sadly when Kushina released her.

"Why did... why did Itachi do this...?" Karin said sadly.

Fugaku and Mikoto looked down sadly at ground before they looked at Karin again.

"We're so sorry that Itachi did this to you." Mikoto said sadly. "We didn't know that he was going to do something terrible like this to both of our clans."

When Mikoto told her that, Karin looked down as she felt tears were forming in her eyes. She slowly got of the bed despite the protest from Minato, Kushina, and Mikoto. She put on her sandals and walked over to the door and looked up at Fugaku, Mikoto, Minato, and Kushina again.

Karin was about to say something but stopped herself, instead she looked at the door and raised her left hand slide one of the hospital shoji doors open then stepped out before she let go of it then walked down the hallway on the right. She stepped a few feet away before running off.

"Hey Karin wait up!" Naruto yelled.

Naruto and Sasuke ran out of the door and followed after Karin. Fugaku, Mikoto, Minato, and Kushina decided to stay behind.

"We're sorry that Itachi did all of this." Fugaku said. "If only we knew something like this was going to happen, we would have stopped it before it could happen."

"Half of the Uzumaki clan and also the Uchiha clan have been been killed last night. It's really tragic." Minato said sadly, closing his eyes.

"What should we do?" Kushina asked.

...

Karin ran up to the roof and stopped at the entrance to pant a little before she walked over to the green metal chain link fence and looked down at the buildings sadly.

 _"They said... everything is going to be alright... but that was a lie..."_ Karin thought. _"I don't even know what's going to happen next..."_

Karin suddenly sensed Naruto and Sasuke were now standing a few feet away from her, she continued to stand still and look down at the buildings sadly.

"Karin, why did you came up to the roof?" Naruto asked.

Karin didn't say anything.

"Dad said that they're tracking Itachi down right now." Naruto said.

Karin raised her head up and slowly turned around to face Naruto and Sasuke.

"We're always here with you, Karin." Sasuke said.

Karin walked over to Naruto and Sasuke and hugged them both in her arms with Sasuke on the left side and Naruto on the right side, she started crying again. Naruto and Sasuke comforted Karin as she cried into one of their shoulders.

...

2 days later.

Morning.

Academy.

Karin was sitting quietly and staring down at her desk with Sasuke sitting beside her in his seat. Sasuke had his hands in his usual way, elbows on the desk and fingers tangled together. Other than the 2 of them barely anyone was in the classroom since it doesn't start until an hour. Shikamaru and Choji were sitting ahead of them talking while 2 boys sat at the back of them. Karin decided to head early than her usual time to the Academy because she didn't want to run into Naruto right now, she wanted to think more, and Uzumaki clan compound keeps reminding her of happened days ago. She suddenly sensed Naruto and started listening to Shikamaru and Choji conversation.

"Hey, Shikamaru. Do you want to go to the Candy Store with me after class?" Choji asked.

"Na. No way." Shikamaru said, shaking his head. "I mean if you get caught you'll be okay because your Mom is nice. But if Mom found out that I had a snack before dinner and ruin my appetit, boy would I ever get it."

Karin closed her eyes as she became more sad, wishing her mother was still aalive along with her father. She heard the class shoji doors slid open, knowing it's Naruto. She suddenly heard the 2 boys at the back of her whispering.

"Hey. Did you hear that half of the Uchiha and Uzumaki clan were killed?" one boy asked.

Karin opened eyes she listened more on the whispering.

"Yeah I heard my father talking about it awhile ago." the second boy said. "The village is now on high alert."

Karin became sadder and sadder as they whispered more about Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan. Not wanting to hear more of what the boys were saying, Karin quickly rose from her seat and walked up the stairs, passing Naruto and walked over to the classroom shoji doors and slid one of them open with her left hand and stepped out before sliding one of them closed.

Naruto could go after Karin, Sasuke rosed from his seat and walked up the other stairs and walked over to the classroom shoji doors and slid one of them with his left hand and stepped before sliding it closed. Naruto would go after Karin, but he didn't see what the dead bodies and whatever Itachi showed or did to them, he wishes that she would be okay in the future.

...

Karin was walking through one of the hallways with her head looking down at the ground until she made it to a nearby closet and twisted it opened with her right hand and entered the small dark room, the only light was shown was at the bottom of the door, and she closed the door behind her. She sat down in the middle of the floor and starting crying silently as she put her hands over her face and glasses.

 _"I don't... want to hear more about it... it makes me sad..."_ Karin thought sadly. _"I... shouldn't have come back..."_ more tears streamed down face.

As Karin continued to cry she suddenly heard footsteps coming towards the closet, immediately knowing who it was. Within seconds, the door twisted open to reveal Sasuke looking down at her worriedly. She uncovered her hands from her face and looked up at him sadly.

"S-sasuke.." Karin whispered.

Sasuke closed the door behind him with his left hand and sat down on the floor next to Karin and hugged her comfortingly.

"I'm here, Karin. You don't have to cry anymore." Sasuke said. "I know what you're going through, because I faced Itachi before he faced you and don't listen to what they said, just ignore them."

Karin closed her eyes as she felt more tears streamed down her face as she hugged Sasuke back, her face in his left shoulder. Sasuke softly rubbed Karin's back with his right hand.

"M-my Daddy... m-my Mommy... and now half of our clans..." Karin said whimpering. "I... don't want to lose anyone else..."

"You're not going to lose anyone else." Sasuke said.

Karin opened her eyes and pulled back a little from the hug to look at Sasuke's face.

"What do mean?" Karin asked confused.

"They will be fine because they're strong and Itachi won't be coming back anytime soon." Sasuke said. "And when he returns I'll get revenge on him for what he did so he won't hurt anymore innocent people and most of all you."

"Y-you really.. mean it..?" Karin asked.

"Of course I do. I'm not lying to you." Sasuke said then wiped Karin's tears away with his left hand.

Karin sensed that Sasuke wasn't lying about what he just said, she hugged him again and he hugged her back, still rubbing her back with his right hand. They stood like that for 2 minutes until Karin pulled away from the hug.

"W-we probably should get back to the classroom because class is going to start all." Karin said.

"Oh, you're right." Sasuke said.

Karin suddenly realized that she was hugging Sasuke, she blushed furiously before she quickly pulled away from him, making Sasuke confused. Sasuke and Karin both stood up before Sasuke twisted the door open with his right hand and they both walked out and Sasuke closed the door behind them. As they were walking back to the classroom, Sasuke looked at Karin as he suddenly noticed something a little different about her.

"Hey Karin." Sasuke said smiling.

Karin turned her head to the left and put her hands together near her chest. "U-um y-yes." she asked shyly.

"Your hair has gotten longer." Sasuke said.

Karin's hair went from a chin length to a slightly passed shoulder length. She admired her Aunt Kushina's hair length and she always wanted to grow it out long.

"W-well I-I wanted to grow it long." Karin said shyly.

"I think your hair would great with it being long." Sasuke said.

Karin blushed and turned her head away from him. She noticed a girl with short black hair and fair skin around their age near them and ran away to the classroom. Karin looked at her confused.

 _"Did she listened to me and Sasuke's conversation?"_ Karin thought as she watched the girl entered the classroom.

"What's wrong, Karin?" Sasuke asked.

Karin looked at Sasuke again. "I-It's nothing important." she said shyly.

"Okay." Sasuke said.

* * *

1 week later.

Daytime.

Academy.

Outside.

Most of the students were playing with white lacrosse balls except for Sasuke and Karin, who were sitting down next to the green metal chain link fence together. Sasuke, in his new usual outfit, a black high collared short sleeved shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, black short pants, and blue sandals, was thinking about something and glaring while Karin looked down at the ground sadly. Naruto stood a few feet away and was staring at Sasuke and Karin for a moment and was about to go over there and talk to Karin until a ball hit him in the back of the head, he turned around and saw some of the kids were laughing at him and he ran towards them.

...

1 hour later.

Karin was in the Academy library returning a book back in she had borrowed 2 weeks ago. She came here when Iruka gave her permission to return it said she had to hurry back outside for Sparing time.

"Here's the book back, Miss." Karin said putting the book on the table.

The skinny woman looked to be in her late 30's, had fair skin, waist length brown hair, black eyes with no pupils, wearing an orange dress with a sky blue sash tied around the waist, and blue sandals.

"Well thank you, dear." the woman said smiling, taking the book Karin said on the table.

"Um goodbye Miss." Karin said shyly, bowing before she walked over to the Library exit.

"Come back again." the woman said.

Karin opened the door with her right hand and stepped out before closing the door behind her. She walked through many hallways to find the exit to the outside. When she made found the door she opened it with her left hand and stepped outside before closing it behind her. She ran over to the Sparing grounds and stopped to see Naruto on the ground, Iruka standing with a clipboard in his right hand, and Sasuke facing mostly away from Naruto but had his head facing a little towards Naruto. Karin could see that Naruto and Sasuke were glaring at each other.

"Got somethin' to say to me you hardin runny crap turd!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke.

Naruto was almost immediately punched by Iruka with his left hand. Naruto groaned in pain as a bump formed on the top of his head.

Iruka glared as he pulled back his left fist. "I told you hand-to-hand combat is a sacred tradition, now make the Unison sign!" he yelled then turned to Sasuke. "And you too, do it Sasuke!"

Sasuke turned around with his eyes closed annoyed and walked back over while Naruto stood up as he took his hands off of his head.

"Come on you 2." Iruka said.

When they made it to each other, Naruto and Sasuke extended their left index and middle finger only in a split second to find they were gripping the other ones shirt. Karin saw that they were glaring at each other even more.

"Hmph." Naruto said.

"You wanna go another round, Usuratonkachi." Sasuke said annoyed.

Iruka ran over to them. "Hey, enough! Quit it both of you!" he said splitting them up.

Karin heard the some of the students were glaring and insulting Naruto, she looked sadly at the scene of Naruto and Sasuke. Naruto pulled away from Iruka and before he sticker his tongue out and looked forward and continued to run. He made it to the tall fence and jumped over it to the other side before turning to look back. He looked at Sasuke then at Karin before running off into the woods.

 _"Oniisan."_ Karin thought sadly then looked up into the air. _"I hope... nothing bad happens in the future... please..."_

* * *

End of Chapter 7.

Please review.

No Flames.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8.

Please review.

No Flames.

* * *

4 years later.

Daytime.

Academy.

Karin, now 12 years old, her hair almost reaching a mid-back length, and in her new usual outfit, brown glasses, a short sleeved mesh shirt, a high collared light brown jacket that was open with a orange stripe going across the chest, a purple skirt, mesh stockings, and grey sandals, was sitting in her seat next to Sasuke, now 12 years old, his hair has gotten slightly longer over the years, and in his new usual outfit, a high collared short sleeved navy blue shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, white short pants, white arms warmers with blue at the both ends of them, white bandages that covered most of his lower legs with blue at the ends of them, and blue sandals, had hands together in his usual way.

Iruka had left the classroom for a moment to deal with something.

She looked up to the right side to see Ino, now 12 years old, her hair was in a high ponytail and was at a waist length and had a bang on the right side of her face, and she was in her new usual outfit, small silver hoop earrings, a purple high collared sleeveless blouse, a purple apron skirt, white bandages on her abdomen and upper legs, white arm warmers with purple at both ends of them, blue sandals, and Sakura, now 12 years old, her hair now at a waist length with the red ribbon still in her hair, was in her new usual outfit, a red qipao dress that had a zipper on the front, the Haruno crest on the short sleeves and on the back, tight green bike shorts, and blue sandals, and along with some girls were smiling at Sasuke. She heard them talk admiringly about Sasuke.

Karin turned her head forward and sighed sadly. _"Please return soon, Oniisan."_ she thought.

"What's the matter, Karin?" Sasuke asked.

Karin looked over at Sasuke. "Oniisan hasn't return yet and he said he was going to do another prank again before Graduation Exams start in a few days." she said.

"Hn, that's childish." Sasuke said. "Does he even act his own age?"

Karin looked at the door as she suddenly sensed Iruka and Naruto coming to the room.

"Oniisan and Iruka are coming back." Karin said.

After a minute past, the lower classroom shoji doors slid open to reveal Iruka, now 24 years old, and was in his usual outfit, and Naruto, now 12 years old and in his new usual outfit, green goggles on his forehead, orange jumpsuit with a little blue on it, white collar with a tassel on the left side the jacket with the Uzumaki crest on the back, and blue sandals. Karin immediately noticed that Naruto was tied up with brown rope on the upper part of his body. Naruto and Iruka walked in before Iruka slid the door closed behind them. They now stood in front of the wooden podium, Naruto looked annoyed while Iruka looked down at him.

"I'm at the end of my rope Naruto." Iruka said. "You failed the graduation test last time and the time before that. Tomorrow you've got another chance and you're messing up again. Don't you care what your father might say?"

Naruto just turned his head to the right as he made a annoyed look, causing Iruka to be be angry. Iruka turned towards the class and point his left index finger at us.

"Fine, because you missed it Naruto! Everyone will review the Transformation Mitsubishi!" Iruka yelled.

Everyone except Sasuke, Karin, Hinata, and Shino groaned.

Kiba, now 12 years old, his hair slightly longer, and in his new usual outfit, grey apparent plate of armour and brown fishnet undershirt, grey hooded fur-lined coat, with the hood placed on his head, dark greyish pants reaching to his calves and blue sandals, stood up with Akamaru, who has grown a little, in his jacket, then Sakura, Ino, some of the other girls and boys, Shino, now 12 years old and in his new usual outfit, round black glasses, high collared zipped up sea-green jacket, black shirt, dark brown pants, and blue sandals, Hinata, now 12 years old and in her new usual outfit, a dark purple short sleeved shirt, a cream-coloured hooded-jacket with a fire symbol on the upper sleeves and fur around the cuffs and hem, navy blue pants, and blue sandals, Shikamaru, now 12 years old and in his new usual outfit, grey hoop earrings, a brown-lined mesh T-shirt, short-sleeved grey jacket with green-edged sleeves and the Nara clan's symbol on the back and sleeves, long brown pants, and blue sandals, Choji, now 12 years old and in his new usual outfit, grey hoop earrings, a light-green shirt with the kanji for "food" (食, _shoku_ ) on it, a green, short-sleeved haori, black shorts, bandages around his legs and forearms, and blue sandals, Sasuke, Karin, Hiroki, 12 years old, had, slightly tan skin, grey shaved hair on his head, black pupil less eyes, wearing a brown bandanna tied around his head, short sleeved dark grey shirt, light brown pants with a white belt, grey short sleeved trench coat, dark grey sandals, and Shigeri, 12 years old, short brown hair, fair skin, grey eyes, wearing a black shirt, long black pants, long sleeved bluish grey jacket with 3 thin strings holding it the front, cream colored scarf wrapped around his neck, and dark grey sandals, all stood up from their seats and walked down the stairs and formed a single line on the lower floor.

Karin walked over to Naruto and stepped behind him and untied him from the rope. After almost 2 minutes the rope fell to the ground, freeing Naruto from it.

"Thanks, Karin." Naruto said smiling at her.

"You're welcome, Oniisan." Karin said smiling back softly.

Naruto and Karin went into the line, while they are standing together Karin stood behind Sasuke and Naruto stood in front of Shikamaru.

"When you are done transforming walk over there." Iruka said pointing with his left hand to the corner of the room.

"Let's get started." Iruka said as he grabbed his clipboard from the podium with his right hand and looked down at it. "First is Sakura Haruno." then he looked up.

Sakura, who was in front of Sasuke, stepped forward and made the hand signs of the Transformation jutsu, Dog-Boar-Ram.

"Alright Sakura here, let's do it. Transform!" Sakura said.

A puff of smoke appeared around Sakura and within a second it cleared up reveal she transformed into Iruka.

"You transformed into me. Good." Iruka said.

The smoke appeared around Sakura again and disappeared to reveal Sakura looked like herself again. Sakura put her hands together near her face and started cheering for herself. After a few seconds she put her hands away from her face and looked at Sasuke.

"Sasuke, did you see that?!" Sakura asked happily.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Next, Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka said.

Sakura walked somewhere else as Sasuke stepped forward. Sasuke made the hand signs and a puff appeared and disappeared to reveal he transformed into Iruka.

Iruka stopped writing on the clipboard with his right hand to see. "Uh, good." he said.

The smoke appeared and disappeared from around Sasuke again as he transformed back into his usual self. Sasuke put his hands into his pockets as he walked over to where Sakura was at.

"Next, Karin Uzumaki." Iruka said.

Karin slowly stepped forward and made the Transformation jutsu hand signs. She doesn't want to transform into a male especially into Iruka, so she decided to transform into her gender, a girl.

A puff appeared and disappeared to reveal Karin had transformed into a 12 year old fair skinned girl that had dark brown hair, blue eyes, wearing a green dress with a red ribbon on top, and blue sandals.

"Great job." Iruka said.

The smoke appeared and disappeared from around Karin and she walked over to where Sasuke and Sakura were at.

"Next Naruto Uzumaki." Iruka said.

Karin stared at Naruto.

"This is a totally waste of time, Naruto." Shikamaru said, his hands in his pockets.

"We always pay for your screwups." Ino said, placing her right hand on her right hip.

 _"P-please don't say that about Oniisan."_ Karin thought sadly, putting her hands together near her chest.

"Like I care." Naruto said both hands on his hips as he stepped forward.

Karin noticed that Hinata had both of her index fingers together as she looked at Naruto blushing lightly.

 _"Does Hinata... really like Oniisan..?"_ Karin thought curiously before she turned to look at Naruto again.

"Transform!" Naruto said as blue chakra gathered around him.

Chakra and smoke appeared and disappeared from around Naruto to reveal that he transformed into a pale version of Iruka. Everyone except Karin, Sasuke, Hinata, and Shino laughed at Naruto's smoke appeared and disappeared from around Naruto and he stood there.

 _"At least.. he's getting better at it..."_ Karin thought.

Karin saw Iruka stood in front of Naruto angrily.

"This is your last warning!" Iruka yelled.

Karin looked sadly at Naruto. _"Oniisan..."_ she thought sadly.

* * *

2 hours later.

Karin was walking back to the Uzumaki clan compound. She was thinking about at how most of her classmates laughed at Naruto.

 _"Why are they so mean to Oniisan like that?"_ Karin thought sadly. _"What did he do make them treat him like that?"_

As Karin continued to walk she suddenly sensed Sasuke quickly coming towards her location. She stopped and turned around to see Sasuke running towards her.

"S-sasuke..." Karin whispered.

Sasuke stopped right in front of Karin. "Karin, I want to talk to you about something." he said.

"Um.. okay.." Karin said shyly.

"Let's go to the Dango Shop first." Sasuke said.

Karin blushed furiously as her eyes widened. _"As in.. a date?!"_ she thought. Her blush lessened, knowing is not like that, and she thought about something.

"B-but Sasuke... you don't like sweets." Karin said shyly, looking down at the ground.

"I'll just drink tea and I know it's your favorite place to eat." Sasuke said smiling.

"H-hai." Karin said shyly, looking at him.

Sasuke and Karin walked for less than 5 minutes and they made it to the Dango Shop. Sasuke and Karin walked inside and looked around. There were a few people sitting at some of the seats. Sasuke and Karin walked over to an empty table with Sasuke sitting on the left side and Karin sitting on the right side. Karin always loves coming here because the dangos here are great.

Suddenly a skinny lady with fair skin, who looked to be in her early 20's, had brown hair that reached a waist length, orange eyes with no pupils, wearing a short sleeved white shirt, long red pants, brown sandals, and a black apron, was holding a cream colored note pad and a pencil.

"Okay, are you 2 ready to order?" the woman asked.

Sasuke looked at Karin. "Karin you order first." he said.

"H-hai." Karin said shyly then looked up at the waitress. "Um.. I would like the tri colored dangos and green tea please."

"Okay." the woman said, writing Karin's order down and turned to Sasuke. "And what would you like?"

"Just green tea." Sasuke said.

The woman wrote down Sasuke's order and looked at them.

"Your orders will be ready in a little while." the woman said then walked off.

"So.. u-um... what did you want to talk about Sasuke?" Karin asked shyly.

Sasuke turned to Karin. "It's about the graduation, it's coming up soon." he said.

"H-hai." Karin said.

"How is it going to be organized?" Sasuke asked.

"Well... Aunt Kushina told me that everyone will be placed in a different room than our usual one and we will be called alphabetical order to take the test alone." Karin said.

"Do you know what we'll be doing?" Sasuke asked.

"Aunt Kushina only said that the last thing we'll be doing was the clone jutsu and she didn't say anything else about the graduation test." Karin said.

"I see." Sasuke said.

Less than 10 minutes later, the waitress came back with a brown circular tray that had their orders on it.

"Here's your Tri-colored dangos and tea." the woman said carefully placing the 5 tri-colored dangles sticks on a plate and a cup of green tea in front of Karin.

"Thank you, Miss." Karin said smiling.

"And here's your green tea." the woman said, placing the cup of green tea in front of Sasuke.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Enjoy." the woman said then left with the tray in her right hand.

"What will happen after the graduation?" Sasuke asked before he grabbed his cup of tea with his left hand and sipped some of it.

"We will be taking graduation pictures of being genins and a few days later we'll placed into teams of 3." Karin said.

Sasuke put down his cup of tea and said nothing.

Karin looked down. "I know you'll do great in the test Sasuke... unlike me..." she said.

Sasuke looked at Karin.

"You've excelled in many of the subjects over the years and I've.. always was.." Karin said.

Sasuke stood up from his seat and walked over to Karin and sat next to her on the left side. Karin looked at Sasuke and blushed softly at how close he was to her.

"Karin, you're great in the Academy for many years." Sasuke said smiling.

"Huh?" Karin asked shyly.

"When all of us were running out of chakra, you still had yours." Sasuke said. "And I've always knew since the beginning that you were going to be a great student. You've made higher grades than me in some of the subjects."

Karin blushed furiously before turning away from Sasuke.

"You'll do great in the graduation test." Sasuke said.

"Th-thank y-you, um Sasuke." Karin said shyly.

 _"I-I should have more confidence in myself like Oniisan and Sasuke..."_ Karin thought.

...

30 minutes later.

Karin was walking back to the Uzumaki clan compound, she and Sasuke after they left the Dango Shop. Karin was about to pay for the bill but Sasuke paid for it, even though she insisted on pay. Within minutes, Karin entered the Uzumaki clan compound. She walked to her house and slid one of the main shoji doors with her left hand, she was about to step in when she heard her name being called.

"Karin." a woman's voice called out.

Karin sensed her Aunt Kushina coming towards her location, she turned to the right and saw her Aunt Kushina, in her usual outfit, walking towards her. She noticed a small frown on her Aunt Kushina's face.

"Hello Aunt Kushina." Karin greeted turning towards her, looking up at her.

Kushina stopped right in front of Karin and looked down at her.

"Karin... I need to talk to you about something important." Kushina said sadly.

"Huh, what is it?" Karin asked confused and curious.

"I'll tell you inside." Kushina said.

Kushina and Karin stepped in and took off their sandals. Kushina slid one of the main shoji doors closed behind them. Kushina and Karin were now sitting on one of the couches together, Karin sat on the right and Kushina sat on the left. Karin was looking up at Kushina, her hands together on her lap.

"So, what did you want to talk about Aunt Kushina?" Karin asked.

Kushina looked down at Karin. "Well... do you remember what you told me years ago about the Villagers glaring about you Naruto and saying something about the Nine-Tails?" she asked.

"Hai." Karin said.

"I think you're old another to hear this." Kushina said.

Karin just stared at her Aunt Kushina.

"If I tell you... will you hate Naruto?" Kushina asked.

"I would never hate Oniisan.. even if something terrible did happened." Karin said.

Kushina sighed before she looked forward. "As you probably already know by now that the Nine-Tails attacked Konohagakure 12 years ago you weren't born. But your cousin Naruto was born on that day." she said.

Karin became more curious about the Nine-Tails attack.

"The Nine-Tails rampaged through Konohagakure for awhile at night until it was sealed and placed into 2 people, me and your cousin Naruto." Kushina said.

Karin's eyes widened. "W-w-what, i-it's sealed into Oniisan?" she asked.

"It was split was split into 2, the Yin part and the Yang part." Kushina said then turned and looked down at Karin.

"S-split?" Karin questioned.

"I was the Jinchuriki before the attack, the Yin one was sealed into me while the Yang one was sealed into your cousin Naruto." Kushina said. "There use to be 1 Jinchuriki but now there's 2."

Karin looked in shock before she turned forward. "So.. that's why the Villagers were glaring at us." she said.

"Hai.. we were scared to tell you because we thought that you would hate Naruto and start avoiding him." Kushina said sadly.

Karin turned her head and looked up at Kushina. "Aunt Kushina I would never hate Oniisan. The 2 of us had a strong bond as long as I can remember." she said. "No matter what the Villagers say I think Oniisan is a great and brave person."

Kushina stared down at Karin for a moment before she smiled. _"Those 2 really formed a bond no matter what people are saying."_ she thought.

* * *

A few days later.

Morning.

Academy.

Naruto and Karin were walking towards a room along with many other students. Karin was looking at the back of Naruto's head.

 _"I guess.. that explains why Oniisan looks like he has whiskers on his cheeks."_ Karin thought.

Naruto turned his head towards the right to look at Karin. "This is great we're finally going to become genin, dattebayo." he said, making his signature smile.

"I wonder what Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina are going to test us with?" Karin asked curiously.

Naruto suddenly stopped smiling and frowned. "Wait.. what?" he asked confused.

"They're going to be testing on the graduation." Karin said.

Naruto started to get scared but covered it up immediately. _"If Mom sees me doing something she doesn't like.. she's gonna kill me.."_ imagining his mother angry.

"I thought they told you days ago, Oniisan." Karin said.

"They didn't but said something about a surprise, dattebayo." Naruto said.

* * *

Another Room.

All of the desks were on the ground and the students were sitting in the spots they sat in their classroom. Karin looked to the right to see Naruto, who was sitting 1 seat beside her on the right. She immediately noticed that Naruto wasn't wearing his goggles today.

 _"I hope me and Oniisan pass together."_ Karin thought then looked at Sasuke, who has his hands tangled together in his usual way. _"Sasuke is not worried at all."_

Karin looked forward as she sensed Iruka coming to the other classroom. One of the class shoji doors slid open to reveal Iruka holding a clipboard with paper on it in his left hand, he slid one of the doors closed before he walked over to the podium and stood in front of it.

"We will now start the Final Exam, when your name is called proceed to the testing room. The Final test will be on the clone jutsu. Your names will be called in Alphabetical order." Iruka said.

 _"Just like Aunt Kushina explained to me..."_ Karin thought, she turned her head to the right to see Naruto silently freaking out. _"I guess... it will be a little difficult for Oniisan..."_

...

More than 2 hours later.

One at a time everyone left the to do the Final Exam. They finally made it to the U's, Sasuke left 10 minutes for his exam. Karin told him 'good luck' on it, Sasuke smiled at her and said 'Thank you're before he left the room.

As Karin waited she became really nervous.

 _"What if.. I fail..? What if.. I don't go to be with Oniisan and Sasuke..?"_ Karin thought sadly. _"I don't want to leave Oniisan's side..."_

Karin suddenly sensed Sasuke walking back to the room. _"He's.. he finished.. already?!"_ she thought shocked.

Within a few minutes, one of the classroom shoji doors opened up to reveal Sasuke.

"You're next Karin Uzumaki." Iruka said.

Karin slowly stood up from her seat and walked towards the open shoji doors, as she was about to cross paths with Sasuke she she didn't see a Konohagakure forehead protector on him.

 _"Did Sasuke pass.. or is it in his pockets..?"_ Karin thought confused.

As she and Sasuke crossed paths she heard him say something.

"You'll do great, Karin." Sasuke said.

Karin gasped and watched as she as Sasuke walked back to his seat before she turned around and walked out then slid one of the shoji doors closed.

As Karin walked through one of the hallways to the testing room, she remembered what Sasuke said to her recently.

 _"You'll do great, Karin." Sasuke said smiling._

Karin softly blushed then quickly shook her head.

 _"I'm sure he's saying that to be nice..."_ Karin thought. _"I have to focus for my exam."_

2 minutes later.

Karin finally made it to the testing room she sensed her Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina in the room. She stopped and took a deep breath before she slid one of the shoji doors open with her right hand and stepped in before she slid it closed behind her.

"Hello Karin-dear." Kushina greeted.

"Nice to see you." Minato said.

Karin looked around the classroom to see chalkboard with a few sheets of paper on it, 3 by 4 windows, a brown desk in front of it, and brown chairs. She noticed her Uncle Minato was sitting on the right side of the desk while her Aunt Kushina was sitting on the left side. Karin noticed that they're were blue clothed Konoha Forehead protectors laying on the desk. Karin stepped in more and walked to a spot that was a few feet away from the desk but it was in front of it.

"Are you ready, Karin-dear?" Kushina asked smiling.

"H-hai." Karin said.

"First, can you do the clone jutsu?" Minato asked smiling.

"H-hai." Karin said.

Karin made the hand signs for the clone jutsu seal and a puff of smoke appeared and disappeared to reveal a clone of Karin right beside her on the right.

"Good job, dattebane." Kushina said smiling.

Karin's clone disappeared from the as the puff of smoke appeared and disappeared.

"Can you please do the Transformation jutsu?" Minato asked.

"H-hai." Karin said.

A puff appeared and disappeared to reveal Karin had transformed into the same 12 year old fair skinned girl that had dark brown hair, blue eyes, wearing a green dress with a red ribbon on top, and blue sandals.

"Great work." Minato said smiling.

The smoke appeared around Karin again and disappeared to reveal she looked like herself again.

"Okay that's the of the Final Exam." Minato said.

Karin waited for her Uncle Minato to say how she did, she could her heart beating rapidly.

"You've passed." Minato said smiling.

"W-w-what?" Karin asked shocked.

"Congratulations, Karin-dear!" Kushina said smiling.

Karin felt happy at what her Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina said to her, she walked over to the table where they were sitting.

Kushina stood up from her seat and walked over to Karin and hugged her softly.

"You're Mom and Dad would be really proud of you Karin-dear, dattebane." Kushina said.

Karin hugged her Aunt Kushina back and felt tears forming in her eyes.

 _"Mother... Father..."_ Karin thought.

* * *

A few hours later.

Almost everyone was standing near the Academy with their parents or guardians, who were congratulation them. Karin looked down at her folded blue clothed wrapped forehead protector in both of her hands before she walked away from Minato and Kushina, who were now talking to other people's parents, she was looking for Naruto. She sensed that he was close by and went to his location. She saw Naruto sitting on the swing of one of the trees that was under the shade, she saw he had a sad face.

Karin looked at Naruto sadly, she heard he didn't pass the Final Exam. She walked over to where Naruto was sitting at and stopped right in front of him.

"O-oniisan." Karin said sadly, looking down at him.

Naruto looked up at Karin. "Oh, hi Karin." hen said smiling sadly.

"I'm sorry you didn't pass Oniisan, you've always worked very hard." Karin said.

Naruto slowly stood up from the swing and was in front of Karin. "Don't worry, I pass next time." he said.

Karin looked down at her forehead protector in both of her hands before she looked up and held to Naruto.

"Here Oniisan." Karin said.

"What?" Naruto asked confused, looking down at the forehead protector.

"I-I want you to have it Oniisan." Karin said.

Naruto pushed it back to Karin with his right hand. "No Karin, it's yours." he said then looked up at him.

"Huh?" Karin asked sadly.

"You've earned it and you've work really hard to get it." Naruto said.

Karin's eyes started welling up with tears. "B-but Oniisan... I don't want to be a Genin without you... we entered the Academy together a-and... I-I don't..." she said then looked down as she closed her eyes, tears streaming down her face. She suddenly felt hands on each of her shoulders, she opened her eyes as she looked to see Naruto smiling softly at her.

"You don't have to worry, I'll be fine with taking the exams next time and we'll be Genin together." Naruto said. "Until then, don't give up in being a Genin right now, okay."

"O-okay.. Oniisan.." Karin said sadly. "B-but I know you'll be a Genin soon."

Naruto hugged Karin softly and Karin separated her hands and hugged him back, the forehead protector in her left hand. After a while they pulled back and watched all of the students talked to their parents. Karin saw Sasuke talking with his parents, in their usual outfits. Karin suddenly heard 2 women in the crowd glaring and talking about Naruto.

"There you see him?" the woman asked.

"It's the Fourth Hokage's son. I heard he's the only one failed." the other woman said.

"Hm, well it serves him right." the woman said.

"Imagine what would happen if he began a Ninja, I mean he's the boy who-" the other woman tried to say but was cut off.

"Shh, we're not aloud to talk about that." the woman said.

2 women went back into the crowd to find their children.

Karin looked at Naruto to see that he was looking down at the ground, sad, angry, and confused. She knew why they hated Naruto and pretended to be nice to him because he was the Fourth Hokage's son.

 _"... Oniisan..."_ Karin thought sadly.

* * *

Night time.

Uzumaki clan compound.

Karin's (Ryo and Uzume's) house.

Karin was sitting on one of the couches with her new forehead protector in her lap. She was thinking about how upset Naruto was today.

 _"Oniisan... I wonder what you're doing right now..?"_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin remembered what Naruto said to her.

 _"You don't have to worry, I'll be fine with taking the exams next time and we'll be Genin together." Naruto said. "Until then, don't give up in being a Genin right now, okay."_

She looked down at her forehead protector and picked it up with both hands from her lap, she stared at the blue cloth on it and realizing the color didn't go with her.

"I guess.. I should change the color.." Karin said to herself.

She stood up from the couch and walked over to the closet and opened it up with her right hand before she stepped in and picked up a small orange box from the top shelf and closed the closet door. She went to the coffee table that was close to the couch she was sitting on and placed the wooden box and her forehead protector on the table before sitting down next to it.

She opened the box with both of her hands and pulled out a dark brown cloth that was very similar to the one on the forehead protector, which was the color. She put down the dark brown cloth and she picked up and carefully removed the grey metal plate from the blue cloth then put down the blue cloth and picked up the dark brown cloth with her right hand. She picked up the metal plate and carefully stuck it to the dark brown cloth. When she was done putting the metal plate on the dark brown cloth, she made sure it didn't fall off before she held up the dark brown Konohagakure forehead protector.

"There." Karin said herself, smiling as she held it with both hands.

Karin suddenly looked confused as she sensed many clones coming from Naruto outside.

"Huh?" Karin asked, looking at the main shoji doors.

Karin put the forehead protector on the table before she stood up and walked over to the main shoji doors and put on her sandals before she slid one of them open with her right hand and stepped outside and slid it closed behind her, she sensed Naruto's chakra was coming from the forest.

"That's strange.. Oniisan couldn't do 1 shadow correctly let alone a Multi Shadow clone jutsu." Karin said to herself.

Karin also sensed her Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina with Naruto as well. _"What's going on out there?"_ she thought.

The mass chakra coming from Naruto had suddenly disappeared. She got curious and ran ran where she sensed Minato, Kushina, and Naruto in the forest, it took her awhile but she finally made it to there location. She stopped to see Minato and Kushina standing next to a tree while Naruto was sitting on the ground by a trees, she saw that his jumpsuit was a little torn and what made her gasp lightly is that she saw a forehead protector around Naruto's forehead and he was smiling.

Naruto, Minato, and Kushina heard footsteps and looked to the left to see Karin staring at them.

"Hello Karin-dear." Kushina said smiling.

"Hello to you too, Oniisan." Karin said, stepping a little bit closer to them. "What's going on?"

"Well Naruto is now a Genin." Minato said smiling.

"Huh? R-really?" Karin asked surprised.

"Yep, I'm now a Ninja, dattebayo." Naruto said smiling.

Karin just stared at them. _"It must have been when he did the Multi Shadow clone jutsu."_ she thought then smiled softly. "Congratulations Oniisan, I knew you would be a Genin soon."

* * *

2 days later.

Morning.

Academy.

Everyone has taken their Graduation photos yesterday and were getting ready to become real ninjas. Today will be their last day in attending the Academy as they will be assigned into teams of 3 and tomorrow they will be assigned a Jonin to be their leader.

Karin walked down the hallway as her new dark brown Konohagakure forehead protector on her forehead with some of her bangs covering it, and was carrying her clothed wrapped bento box with the Uzumaki crest on it. She finally made it to the classroom shoji doors and slid it open with her right hand and stepped in before closing it behind her. Karin stepped towards her compartment and put her cloth wrapped bento box down at the bottom of it before going down the stairs then sat down in her seat. She looked around to see her classmates were talking to each other while wearing their blue Konohagakure forehead protectors on their bodies, Kiba was wearing his on his forehead with Akamaru in his jacket, Shikamaru was wearing his around his upper left arm, Choji's forehead protector was styled in a manner that allowed two tufts of hair to poke out at each side, Hinata was wearing her's around her neck, Shino was wearing his on his forehead, Shigeri was wearing his around his forehead, and Hiroki was wearing his around his forehead.

"Hello Karin." a male voice said.

Karin turned her head to the right to see Sasuke was smiling at her.

"H-hello to you too, Sasuke." Karin said shyly.

Karin looked to see Sasuke was wearing his forehead but his bangs were not on covering his forehead anymore. She wished that Sasuke didn't have to uncover his forehead because of his bangs.

"It's going to be our last day attending the Academy before we go on missions." Karin said shyly.

"But we have to know what teams we'll be in first." Sasuke said.

"I-I know." Karin said shyly. _"I wonder if me and Oniisan will be assigned on the same team."_ she thought.

"I wonder if you and I will be on the same team." Sasuke said.

Karin blushed lightly. "W-why are thinking about that?" she asked shyly.

"Because I really like spending time with you and I'm going to miss our time in the Academy." Sasuke said.

Karin now blushed furiously at what Sasuke just said, she turned her head away from him to the left. "W-w-well.. I'm going to m-miss spending t-time with y-you too, S-sasuke." she stuttered shyly.

Karin's blush lessened to nothing when she suddenly sensed Naruto coming to the room. After 2 minutes, one of the classroom shoji doors open to reveal Naruto and he slid the door closed before walking down the stairs and sat in his seat.

"Hi Karin." Naruto said smiling.

"Hello to you too, Oniisan." Karin said, looking at him.

Karin looked to see that Sasuke was now looking forward with his hands tangled in his usual way again and was no longer smiling. She looked back at Naruto to see that he was laying on the desk and smiling to himself at his forehead protector on forehead.

 _"I really glad Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina made him a Genin, he's going to be great."_ Karin thought, putting her hands on her lap.

Karin now looked to see that Shikamaru was walking down one of the stairs and stopped in front of Naruto.

"What are you doing here Naruto? This isn't for dropouts you can't be here unless you Graduate." Shikamaru said.

Naruto stopped laying on the desk to face Shikamaru and pointed at his forehead protector with his right thumb. "Oh yeah, you see this? Do you see this up here I graduated Shikamaru, it's a Graduation headband, dattebayo." he said then lowered his right hand. "We're gonna be training together. How do you like that?"

Shikamaru put his right hand on his right hip as he turned forward.

"Let me put it to you this way, I look great in this headband, like it was made for me, dattebayo." Naruto said putting both of his hands on his forehead protector then laughed.

Karin saw Hinata blushing lightly at Naruto before she looked up at the classroom shoji doors as she suddenly sensed Sakura and Ino were quickly coming to the classroom.

After a seconds one of the classroom shoji doors opened up to reveal Ino, who was wearing her forehead protector around her waist, and Sakura, who was wearing hers as a hairband, burst into the classroom and was trying shoved each other out of one another's way.

"I'm first!" Ino and Sakura yelled out.

Ino's right hand was on Sakura's left cheek while Sakura's left hand was on Ino's right cheek. Shikamaru continued to walk down the stairs and sat next to Choji in his seat.

 _"They didn't have to rush here, class time starts in 20 minutes."_ Karin thought, looking at the clock then back towards Ino and Sakura, who had their hands down and were panting from running.

Everyone knew that Ino and Sakura were once friends when they were kids when they got older they became rivals.

Karin heard them argue about who won then started to turn forward until she saw Naruto turned his head around to see Ino and Sakura arguing, blushing and smiling. Karin knew that Naruto had a crush on Sakura but she didn't have feelings for him only for Sasuke.

Karin looked to see that Ino and Sakura stopped arguing, she saw Sakura turned around towards them and was looking at someone but it wasn't Naruto. Karin looked to see where Sakura was staring at see it was Sasuke, who was still looking forward and had his fingers tangled together in his usual way.

Sakura suddenly smiled ran down one of the stairs towards them.

"Hey, whoa where you going?" Ino asked, raising her left hand a little.

Karin turned back to Naruto to see him standing up from his seat.

"Hey Sakura, what's up?" Naruto greeted, raising his right hand high.

"Move it!" Sakura yelled, shoving Naruto out of the way, causing him to fall to the ground.

"Oniisan!" Karin said, leaning a little to see he was on the ground. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry Karin. I'm fine." Naruto said, grunting in pain a little.

Karin looked at Sakura, who was now blushing and smiling, standing next to Sasuke and had her hands together near her chest.

 _"That wasn't nice of Sakura to do that to Oniisan."_ Karin thought.

"Uh, good morning Sasuke-kun." Sakura greeted smiling, blushing lightly.

Sasuke turned to the right to look at Sakura, not even speaking to her.

"Mind if I sit next to you?" Sakura asked.

 _"B-but that's Oniisan's seat."_ Karin thought.

Karin saw Ino walked down the stairs and stood next to Sakura and grabbed her left arm with her right hand, causing Sakura to let go of both of her hands that are together.

"Back off Forehead, I'm sitting next to Sasuke." Ino said glaring.

Sakura glared at Ino. "I was here first." she said.

"I walked into the classroom before you did. Everybody saw it." Ino said.

"Dream on." a girl with a green shirt on said, walking towards them.

"Actually I got here before either of you." a girl with the car green vest said, walking towards them.

"So did I, I'm sitting to Sasuke." a girl with the link shirt.

"No I am." a girl with the light blue dress.

Karin saw more girls walk up and started arguing about who's sitting next to Sasuke.

 _"They're all fighting over Oniisan's seat."_ Karin thought.

Karin turned to Sasuke.

Sasuke turned forward and closed his eyes.

Karin suddenly saw Naruto hoped onto their desk and and land in front of Sasuke, who open his eyes.

"Hn." Sasuke said.

Naruto and Sasuke were both glaring at each other.

 _"Please... don't fight..."_ Karin thought sadly.

"Naruto hey stop glaring at Sasuke!" Sakura yelled.

Karin saw Naruto turned to look at most of the girls glaring at him before he turned to glare at Sasuke again.

Karin suddenly saw Naruto was about to land on Sasuke because the boy behind them accidentally pushed him with his right hand.

 _"Oh no!"_ Karin thought, knowing what's going to happen next.

Not wanting Naruto to fall on Sasuke, Karin quickly grabbed Sasuke by the sleeves of his shirt pulled him away towards her. Naruto's head hit the seat, groaning in pain.

Karin closed her eyes as she sighed in relief. _"Thank goodness..."_ she thought.

She opened her eyes as she suddenly felt the weight of Sasuke fall on her, causing both Sasuke and Karin to fall with a loud crash.

Karin's eyes were closed as she heard students gasp, she suddenly felt something warm on her lips.

 _"What's going on...? and what's on my lips...?"_ Karin thought.

Karin grunted in a little pain as she slowly opened her eyes, her eyes eyes as she gasped in shock to see that she was lying on the seats with Sasuke on her and his lips were on her lips. She blushed furiously as her eyes widened. She immediately noticed that Sasuke's right hand was next to the left side of her stomach and his eyes were closed peacefully.

 _"Sasuke's.. kissing me?!"_ Karin thought shocked.

Karin quickly raised the top half of body, making Sasuke rise as well, and separated her lips from him she released her hands from Sasuke's shoulders. Karin was still blushing furiously as she held her hands together near her chest while Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at her.

 _"I-I can't believe... Sasuke and I... kissed each other...!"_ Karin thought. _"H-he's now first kiss...! A-am I his..."_

Karin suddenly looked around the room to see that everyone was staring at her and Sasuke, she now heard growling and turned to see Ino, Sakura, and some other girls were now glaring at her.

"You shouldn't have done that Karin." Sakura said.

 _"I-it was an accident..."_ Karin thought sadly and scared, tears started forming in her eyes.

The girls were about to move forward to get revenge on Karin but Sasuke stood up and stood in front of Karin while he faced the girls. The girls stopped glaring and looked at Sasuke.

"Leave Karin alone and go away." Sasuke said serious.

"Okay, if that's what you want Sasuke." Ino said smiling nervously.

The girls started to back up and went back to their seats. Sasuke sat back down and looked at Karin.

"Everything's alright, Karin." Sasuke said softly.

Karin looked over the right side of Sasuke's shoulder and saw Naruto sitting in his seat and was looking at Sasuke and the girls glaring at her.

 _"I don't know about that Sasuke..."_ Karin thought.

...

15 minutes later.

Class has started and Iruka was standing in front of the classroom near the podium with a few sheets of paper in his left hand. Everyone was sitting in their correct seats, Karin had her hands together in her lap, Sasuke had his fingers together in their usual way, and Naruto was laying on the desk.

"As of today you are all Ninjas, to get her you've faced difficult trials and hardships. But that's not nothing what comes next will be far more difficult, now you are only Genin, first level Ninjas. All the Genin will be grouped into 3 man squads, each squad will be lead by a Month, an elite Ninja." Iruka explained.

All of the students (except Sasuke and Karin) looked at Iruka in surprise, Naruto raised his top half from the desk.

 _"I what Aunt Kushina said was true..."_ Karin thought then turned to the right to look at Naruto. _"But.. I hope I be on a team with Oniisan..."_ then looked forward again.

Karin heard Ino and Sakura arguing again but this time it was about 'Who's going to be a team with Sasuke?' , but she didn't look back and continued to look forward.

Sasuke groaned a little bit in annoyance. Karin turned a little to look at Sasuke sadly, knowing that he was annoyed about being in a squad. She suddenly thought their conversation earlier.

 _Flashback._

 _"It's going to be our last day attending the Academy before we go on missions." Karin said shyly._

 _"But we have to know what teams we'll be in first." Sasuke said._

 _"I-I know." Karin said shyly. "I wonder if me and Oniisan will be assigned on the same team." she thought._

 _"I wonder if you and I will be on the same team." Sasuke said._

 _Karin blushed lightly. "W-why are thinking about that?" she asked shyly._

 _"Because I really like spending time with you and I'm going to miss our time in the Academy." Sasuke said._

 _Flashback ends._

 _"I sensed that Sasuke was telling the truth... But it seems he doesn't want anyone else on his team... not even Oniisan..."_ Karin thought then looked forward again.

"We want each squad to have a balance of strength and abilities, so that's how we set them up." Iruka said then raised his left hand to look at the pieces of paper he has.

"I will now announce the squads." Iruka said.

Almost 5 minutes passed. Iruka was now going to announce who's going to be on Team 7.

"Squad 7, Naruto Uzumaki.. Sakura Haruno.." Iruka said.

Karin looked to see Naruto stood up from his seat and raised his arms cheering and Sakura sulking sadly.

"I'm doomed." Sakura said sadly.

 _"I hope Iruka calls my name.."_ Karin thought then looked forward.

"And Sasuke Uchiha.." Iruka finished.

Karin gasped softly as turned again to see Naruto sulking sadly and Sakura stood up from her seat and raised her arms cheering then looked up at Sasuke then sat back down.

 _"I guess... me and Oniisan won't be on the same team..."_ Karin thought sadly as she turned forward.

"Next Squad 8, Hinata Hyuga.." Iruka said.

"Yes Iruka-sensei..." Hinata said politely.

"Kiba Inuzuka.. and Shino Aburame..." Iruka said.

"Next Squad 9, Karin Uzumaki.." Iruka said.

 _"So.. who is going to be on my team..?"_ Karin thought, still sad about not being on a squad with Naruto.

"Shigeri.. and Hiroki.." Iruka said.

Karin looked to see Hiroki on the far right and Shigeri on the lower middle row.

 _"They are my team members.."_ Karin thought.

"Now Squad 10, Ino Yamanaka.. Shikamaru Nara.. and Choji Akimichi.." Iruka said.

"Those are all the Squads.." Iruka said then lowered his left hand.

 _"M-maybe Oniisan and Sasuke might get along in the process..."_ Karin thought.

Naruto stood up from his seat angrily. "Iruka-sensei, why does a great Ninja like me has to be in the same group as a slug like Sasuke?!" he asked, pointing his left index finger at Sasuke.

Karin looked at Naruto sadly. _"Or.. maybe not.."_ she thought.

Iruka looked at his paper again. "Sasuke has the best scores of all the Graduating students." he said then lowered his left hand again. "Naruto you had the worst scores.. to create a balance group we put the best student with the worst student."

Some students were laughing at Naruto.

Naruto groaned in annoyance.

 _"Oniisan..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin turned to look at Sasuke, who was starting to say something.

"Just make sure you don't get in my way, Usuratonkachi." Sasuke said to Naruto.

Naruto groaned angrily. "Hey, what did you say, dattebayo?!" he asked.

"Hard of hearing." Sasuke said.

 _"Please.. don't fight again..."_ Karin thought sadly.

More students started to laugh at Naruto.

"Knock it off Naruto! Sit down!" Sakura yelled annoyed.

"After lunch you'll meet your new Job in teachers." Iruka said.

 _"Huh? But.. Aunt Kushina said tomorrow... I guess that was wrong Information..."_ Karin thought looking forward, surprised.

"Until then class is dismissed.." Iruka said.

* * *

5 minutes later.

Sasuke and Karin were walking down one of the hallways together to eat their somewhere. They decided since it was going to be their last day in the Academy they should somewhere else than their usual spot. Sasuke was holding his clothed wrapped bento box that had the Uchiha crest on it with his right hand and a green wooden cup filled with tea, while Karin was holding her clothed wrapped bento box with the Uzumaki crest on it with both hands.

Karin was looking down sadly as they walked through the hallway, Sasuke noticed her behavior.

"Karin, what's the matter?" Sasuke asked concerned.

Karin looked up at Sasuke. "W-well it's about the squads we were chosen to be on recently." she said. "I don't know what kind of people they are going to be on the team."

Sasuke looked forward. "I'm not excited to be a team with Naruto and Sakura, both of them would be useless in battle." she said.

Karin just stared at the ground, knowing that convincing Sasuke herself that Naruto isn't weak would be pointless.

"I still wished that you and I could be on the same time." Sasuke said then looked at Karin again.

Karin looked up at Sasuke again.

"It would've been great if we were assigned to the same squad." Sasuke said lightly.

Karin blushed softly.

"By the way.. about the kiss that happened-" Sasuke said but was cut off.

Karin's eyes widened as she blushed furiously. "P-please Sasuke.. p-please don't mention it right now now..." Karin said shyly as she turned away embarrassed.

Sasuke immediately knew that Karin didn't want to talk about at the moment.

"Okay, it will wait." Sasuke said.

When Sasuke and Karin finally made it they stopped at one of the room that the teachers weren't using. Sasuke slid the door open with his right hand as still was holding the bento box and let Karin in first and stepped in before sliding it closed behind him. Karin's blush lessened before they made it.

Sasuke and Karin looked around the room to see it only had a brown wooden, a basket full of grey rocks, and one window that was open. They walked over to the desk.

"This should do it." Sasuke said as he and Karin placed their bento box and a wooden cup on the desk.

Karin gasped as she suddenly remembered something.

"What's wrong, Karin?" Sasuke asked, a little worried.

"I almost forgot I have to return a book back to the Library." Karin said. "I will be right back."

"I'll watch your lunch." Sasuke said.

"Th-thank you, S-sasuke." Karin said shyly before walking over to the room's shoji doors and slid one of them open with her right hand and stepped out then closed it behind her.

...

3 minutes later.

"Great job returning the book Karin." the lady librarian said.

"Sorry that I didn't return it earlier." Karin said.

"It's alright." the lady librarian said smiling.

Karin left the library and walked through one of hallways to get back to the room when she saw 3 girls coming her way. Karin stopped in her tracks and saw they were glaring at her.

 _"Those are... the same girls from the classroom..."_ Karin thought sadly.

The 3 girls stopped right in front of Karin.

"How dare you kiss Sasuke!" the first one said.

"Yeah, I was going to be his first kiss!" the second said.

"No I was going to be his kiss!" the third one said.

Karin put her hands together near her chest. "It was an accident, honest." she said scared and sad.

"What do you mean it was an accident?" the second one asked.

"W-well I-I moved Sasuke out of the way so Oniisan wouldn't bump into him." Karin said sadly.

The 3 girls stared at Karin suspiciously for a moment before the first one spoked.

"We did see that Naruto could have landed on Sasuke." the first one said, looking at the second and third one.

"You sure you didn't kiss that on purpose?" the second one asked

"N-no." Karin said, nodding her head.

"We'll let this one slide, but you better not do it. Got it." the first one said.

"H-hai." Karin said.

The 3 girls walked passed Karin to another hallway. When they were gone Karin sighed in relief then continued to walk through the hallway to the room, she let her hands down.

 _"I mean to kiss Sasuke... but... it was kind of nice..."_ Karin thought, blushing lightly.

Karin closed her eyes as she shocked her head then stopped and opened her eyes. _"N-no.. Sasuke and I are friends.. and the kiss was just an accident..."_ she thought.

After a minute Karin made it back to the room she could tell that something was wrong because she didn't sense Sasuke's chakra in the room anymore. She slid one of the room's shoji doors with her right hand and stepped in before closing it behind her. She walked in further to see some rope, a log, and 2 pieces of tape stuck together that made an 'X'.

"Huh?" Karin asked confused as she moved forward.

Then she noticed that Sasuke's bento box and lunch were all over the floor next to the open window along with his wooden cup. She walked over to the window then stopped.

"W-w-what happened while I was gone?" Karin asked herself then she gasped. "Where's Sasuke..?" Karin looked out of the window and looked around. "I hope he's okay..."

* * *

Outside.

Sasuke's POV.

Sasuke was walking on a concrete pathway find Naruto for tying him up in the room. _"I have to find Naruto so I can get back to the room before Karin comes back."_ he thought.

As Sasuke continued to walk he noticed Sakura sitting on a light grey bench with her bento box and dark purple cup next to her on the left. She looked like she's waiting for someone but Sasuke didn't care as he rarely paid her any attention.

Sakura smiled at Sasuke as she stood up and put her hands together near her chest. "Sasuke you're back, don't be so shy you bad boy." she said, her cheeks lightly blushing. "Are you ready now, you know mentally prepared because I am I mean I'm raring to go."

Sasuke ignored Sakura as he walked passed her, looking around.

Sakura stopped smiling as she opened her eyes and turned to look at Sasuke. "Hey, wait a minute." she said.

Sasuke stopped and turned to Sakura a little. "Where's Naruto?" he asked.

Sakura smiled her eyes closed and put her hands together behind her back. "Oh see there you go changing the subject again." she said then opened her eyes as she stopped smiling. "Anyway Naruto just picks fights with you." then she placed both of her hands in front of her and put her right index and thumb up and her left hand near it. "You know why he's so annoying cause he probably wasn't raised right with the Fourth Hokage and his Mother." she folded her arms as she closed her eyes. "He isn't like them at all."

Sasuke stopped looking at Sakura and looked around for Naruto.

Sakura opened her eyes and smiled. "But what's more annoying is that sister of his, Karin." she said.

Sasuke quickly looked back at Sakura angrily and annoyed but Sakura didn't noticed as she continued talking.

"I mean she's shy and quiet but I guess she doesn't have parents anymore like us to teach her how to speak and stand up for herself. Why did she decided to become a Ninja anyway?" she said putting her hands on her hips.

Sasuke silently glared at Sakura even more as continued to talk negative about Karin.

"She thinks she's better than everyone because she gets to do what she wants and lives all alone." Sakura said. "I still don't know why you hang out with her."

Sasuke suddenly remembered the times he spent with Karin, from the time they met and now, then started to remember the time she cried when her parents died, her depression, and the Massacre of half the Uchiha and Uzumaki clan. The leaves start blowing as some wind came by.

"Alone. Isolated." Sasuke said, looking forward.

"Huh?" Sakura asked confused, taking her hands off of her hips.

"You have no idea what she went through and what struggles she had to face over the years because of that." Sasuke said. "You'll never understand it.."

Sakura made a sad face. "W-why are you saying that?" she asked, holding up left hand near her chest.

Sasuke glared at Sakura. "Because, you're annoying.." he said harshly.

Sakura gasped in shock as her eyes widened.

Sasuke looked forward and went back to walking forward, leaving behind a sad Sakura.

...

15 minutes later.

Room.

Karin was standing next to the window, looking down at the floor. She finished eating out of her bento box and cleaned up the mess that was near the window. She raised her head up she suddenly sensed Sasuke coming back to the room, she stepped forward a little.

After a minute the door slid open to reveal Sasuke and he stepped in and closed it behind him.

"Sasuke, what happened..?" Karin asked, looking at him worried.

Sasuke looked at Karin as he walked forward. "You've returned, Karin." he said then stopped right in front of her.

"Um why was room a mess when I came back?" Karin asked.

"I promise, I'll explain it to you later." Sasuke said. "But we should head back to the classroom right now."

"H-hai." Karin said then tried to walk forward but Sasuke stopped.

"I want to tell you something first." Sasuke said.

"Okay." Karin said shyly.

"Even though we're on separate teams that doesn't make us enemies or rivals and if you're in trouble I'll help you if you want to me too, okay." Sasuke said.

"H-hai." Karin said shyly, blushing lightly.

"Now let's go back." Sasuke said then turned around and walked to the room shoji doors again with Karin following right behind him.

* * *

End of Chapter 8.

Please review.

No Flames.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9.

Please review.

No Flames.

* * *

Afternoon.

Classroom.

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, Sakura, Shigeri, and Hiroki, in their usual outfits, were waiting patiently for Squad 7 and 9 Jonin Leaders to arrive. Sasuke and Karin were sitting together at their desks, Shigeri and Hiroki were sitting in their seats, and Naruto and Sakura were standing up on the floor separately.

"Do you sense anyone coming Karin?" Naruto asked, looking at her.

"Not yet, Oniisan." Karin said, looking at him before turning forward.

"You'll do great out there." Sasuke said.

Karin blushed lightly. "Th-thank you, Sasuke..." she said shyly.

Karin stopped blushing and her eyes widened in shock as she suddenly a familiar chakra.

"Karin, what's wrong?" Naruto asked.

 _"That's the... same man from... years ago..."_ Karin thought.

 _Flashback._

 _7 years old._

 _Karin was walking through the hallways she sensed another chakra coming towards her. She looked up to see a man, who had fair skin, black hair that was at a shoulder length and was combed back, grey pupiless eyes, wide but built up body, a huge forehead, wearing a grey Konohagakure forehead protector on his forehead, dark brown-grey kimono like shirt with cream outlines, long black pants, a large white rope tied around his waist, black socks, and black sandals, was walking towards her. She could see that he had an angry look on his face, which frightened her. The man was now in front of her, Karin looked up to see that he was looking down at her more angry than before now._

 _"S-sorry." Karin said shyly._

 _"All of you Uzumakis are weak." the man said._

 _"Huh?" Karin asked confused._

 _"You all are nothing but a disgrace to The Hidden Village." the man said before he continued moving forward. "Should stayed in Uzushiogakure."_

 _The man left, leaving Karin alone in the hallway by herself and tears began forming in her eyes._

 _Flashback ends._

 _"Is he going to become mine.. or Oniisan's Sensei..?"_ Karin thought shocked.

"Karin. Karin!" a male's voice said.

Karin was pulled out of her thoughts to see Naruto standing next to her on the right and Sasuke looked at her. They were both staring at her worriedly.

"What's the matter, Karin." Sasuke asked.

"I just.. sensed someone coming to the classroom..." Karin said, her eyes unwidened.

Naruto looked at the classroom shoji doors curiously. "Is it going to be Squad 7's or Squad 9's Leader, dattebayo?" he asked.

 _"I hope it's neither..."_ Karin thought.

After a minute one of the classroom shoji doors slid open to reveal the man that Karin encountered 5 years ago, in his usual outfit.

"Hurry up Squad 9." the man said.

 _"N-no... No!"_ Karin thought.

"Let's go, Shigeri." Hiroki said, standing up and walked towards the door.

Shigeri stood up and walked behind Hiroki.

"I'll see you later, Oniisan, Sasuke.." Karin said.

"Okay." Sasuke said.

"Alright." Naruto said.

Karin stood up and walked down the stairs before going to the classroom shoji doors with Shigeri and Hiroki. They stepped outside of the classroom, Karin looked at Naruto and Sasuke one more time before she closed the door behind her with left hand.

* * *

Outside.

Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin walked towards a field as their new Jonin teacher walked ahead of them. Karin looked at the man cautiously, not sure to trust her new Jonin. When they were now in the field the Jonin suddenly stopped making Karin, Shigeri, Hiroki stop as well and look up at him.

The Jonin turned around as he stared down at his 3 new Genins.

"I'm now your Sensei, the only thing you guys need to know about me is that my name is Zosui..." the Jonin said. "You guys will say your names and nothing else..."

"Well my name is Shigeri." Shigeri said.

"Mines Hiroki." Hikori said.

"Um my name is Karin.. Uzumaki..." Karin said shyly.

"You 3 will meet back here tomorrow in the afternoon for a test to see if you can work as a team.." Zosui said. "If you pass you all will be assigned missions.. but... you all fail you're going back to the Academy..."

Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin looked at Zosui surprised at what he just said.

"So I suggest you prepare for it tonight..." Zosui said.

 _"So.. this test is the real Graduation.. not the Graduation test we took a few days ago..."_ Karin thought.

"You 3 are dismissed.." Zosui said then turned to Karin. "Except for you."

Karin became confused as Shigeri and Hiroki started to walk away. When Shigeri and Hiroki were far away from them, Zosui glared at Karin, making her scared.

"You especially should be prepared.. you're not going slow your team mates down.." Zosui said glaring.

Karin put her hands together near her chest.

"I never wanted a filthy and pathetic Uzumaki as my students but they assigned you me..." Zosui said harshly. "You should've have just died with half of them years ago."

Karin gasped at what Zosui just said to her.

Zosui just walked away, leaving Karin by herself. Karin looked down as she put her hands down and started to cry, remembering something from the past.

 _Flashback._

 _"All of you Uzumakis are weak." the Zosui said._

 _..._

 _"You all are nothing but a disgrace to The Hidden Village." the man said before he continued moving forward. "Should stayed in Uzushiogakure."_

 _Flashback ends._

"W-w-why? W-why does he have Uzumakis?" Karin asked, tears streaming down her face. "I-I don't... understand..."

* * *

Night time.

Uzumaki clan compound.

Karin's (Ryo and Uzume's) house.

Karin was sitting on one of the couches with her forehead protector on the table as she had a medium sized light brown pouch on her lap as she was checking inside of it to prepare for the test tomorrow. She looked in it to see shurikens, kunais, and other supplies that will help her in the afternoon tomorrow. Naruto told her awhile ago that his new Jonin leader, Kakashi was going to be testing Team 7 early in the morning tomorrow and couldn't have breakfast because of something he said.

"I guess.. that's everything.." Karin said, closing it up.

Karin closed her eyes and sighed before she opened her eyes again and looked to the right to see her decreased parents pictures were sitting on the small table 1 lighted candle and white rose in a blue vase and purple vase on each side of them. She placed the pouch beside her on the right before she stood up and walked over to a small table and closed her eyes and bowed her head before she sat in the seiza position next to it, she bowed her head again as she prayed for her mother and father.

Karin opened her eyes as she was done praying to the picture of her decreased parents, she stared down at the pictures sadly.

"Daddy.. Mommy.. I'm now on a team of 4 with Zosui as our Jonin leader... He really hates Uzumakis.. I don't know why he dislikes us so much... but.. tomorrow I'm going to be taking a test in the afternoon to see if I'm truly qualified.. to be in a team... just like you 2, Aunt Kushina, Uncle Minato, and many members of our clan were..." Karin said. "I'll... I'll make you all proud."

Karin slowly stood up from the table and turned to the right side to look out of the window to see a crescent moon. _"I wonder how Oniisan, Sasuke, and Sakura are going to be doing on their test...?"_ she thought.

"I have to go sleep in a little bit to be well rested tomorrow..." Karin said looking away before she walked away.

* * *

Tomorrow.

Daytime.

Afternoon.

Shigeri, having some white tape wrapped around his right leg along with a black shuriken holster, Hiroki, having a sword on his back, and Karin, having a medium sized light brown pouch wrapped around her waist, were standing together in the clear Forest waiting patiently for their new Jonin Zosui to arrive. Shigeri was standing on the right, Hiroki was standing on the left, and Karin was standing in the middle. Karin sensed Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were together in another part of the Forest far away waiting for Kakashi, who she sensed was walking towards their location.

 _"That's strange... Oniisan said that Team 7's test would begin in the morning.. b-but.. it's the afternoon right..."_ Karin thought confused.

Karin was about to think some more when she quickly looked to the think to right as she sensed Zosui coming towards them. The 3 of them looked at Zosui as he walked over to them. After a minute Zosui finally made to Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin, and was now standing in front of them.

Zosui stared down at them serious. "Listen you 3 will come at me try to defeat me." he said.

Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin now looked at Zosui shocked and confused, gasping a little.

"That's means all of you.." Zosui said, looking at Karin serious.

Karin looked at the ground sadly.

"Begin." Zosui said.

Karin immediately looked up as she, Shigeri, Hiroki jumped a few feet backwards away from Zosui. She looked to the right to see was Hiroki was pulling out his sword with his right hand and looked to the left to see Shigeri was pulling out a shuriken with his left hand from his shuriken holster, she quickly reached into her pouch with her left hand and pulled out 6 shurikens and put half of them in her right hand.

Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin watched as Zosui pulled a kunai with his right hand from his kimono like shirt. Hiroki quickly ran over to Zosui and swung his sword at him before he dodged it easily. Hiroki kept trying to strike Zosui, who only continued to dodge the attacks. Hiroki strikes Zosui again once more only for Zosui to block it with his kunai. Zosui raised his left hand and punched Hiroki on the left side of his face.

Hiroki fell down to the ground in pain before Shigeri ran over to them and threw his shurikens at Zosui, who easily deflected them with his kunai. As Shigeri was now in front of Zosui he tried to throw a punch at Zosui's face with his right hand only for Zosui to catch it with his left hand, Shigeri tried to break free from Zosui's grip but no luck. Zosui threw his kunai to the ground and punched Shigeri in the stomach.

After a few seconds, Zosui let go of Shigeri's right hand as Shigeri now crouched down in pain. Hiroki slowly got up and ran over to Zosui again as he swung his sword repeatedly again while Zosui immediately kept dodging the attacks.

Karin watched the whole scene before she softly swallowed and was about to step forward until she suddenly heard the loud scream of a girl. She looked up at the right as it came from that direction, knowing who's voice that was a second ago.

 _"T-that.. t-that must've be Sakura screaming..."_ Karin thought. _"I wonder what kind of test is Team 7 doing..? I-I hope they're okay..."_

"Hey you!" a man's voice yelled.

Karin immediately turned forward to see Zosui looking at her while fighting Hiroki with kunai in his right hand.

"You better fight too or you're going back to the Academy!" Zosui said seriously.

"H-hai..!" Karin softly stuttering before she threw her shurikens 2 at a time at Zosui.

Zosui pushed Hiroki with his left hand and deflected all of Karin's shurikens with ease. Shigeri slowly got up, as the pain he received from Zosui punching him in the stomach had worn off, and ran over to Zosui again. Hiroki ran over to Zosui again as well and swung his sword again. Zosui dodged both of Shigeri's and Hiroki's attacks. As Shigeri and Hiroki continued to attack, Zosui held Hiroki from attacking him with his kunai and Shigeri from attacking by grabbing his neck with his left hand. Shigeri used both of his hands to get out of Zosui's grip but no such luck. Hiroki tried to lean in more to strike Zosui but he was still held in place.

Karin was about to step forward with her right foot until Zosui quickly released his left hand from Shigeri's neck and punched him in the stomach again but the only difference is that a loud crack can be heard, Shigeri yelled loudly in pain before falling down to the ground backwards landing on his back clutching his ribs with both of his hands. Zosui turned to Hiroki and stopped holding Hiroki's sword with his kunai and sliced his right arm with it leaving a medium sized wound. Hiroki dropped his sword as he crouched down yelling in pain as he held his right arm with his left hand, blood was slowly flowing from the wound. Shigeri and Hiroki were both closing their eyes tightly.

Karin covered her mouth with both hands as her eyes widened, watching the scene in horror at what Zosui just did to Shigeri and Hiroki. Zosui jumped a few feet backwards from Shigeri and Hiroki before he stared at Karin seriously.

"So.. now it is your turn to fight me." Zosui said.

Karin looked at Zosui sadly and scared before she turned to look at Shigeri and Hiroki again, who were still in pain, she lowered her hands as stared at them in worried and sadness.

 _"Hiroki... Shigeri..."_ Karin thought sadly as she started crying.

Karin quickly ran over to Shigeri and Hiroki. "Shigeri! Hiroki!" she yelled.

She crouched down next to Hiroki and grabbed his right arm with both of her hands. "Please hold still, Hiroki.." she said softly.

Hiroki tried to move out of Karin's grip.

"Please Hiroki... I want to heal you and Shigeri quickly..." Karin said sadly.

Hiroki stopped struggling and yelling as he allowed Karin to help him, now grunting in pain. Karin slowly took a deep breath and exhaled before she released Hiroki's right arm and hovered both of her hands over the wound and started to the Mystical Palm technique, a green glow was now appearing from her hands. After a minute, the wound on Hiroki's right arm stopped bleeding and started to heal. Hiroki stopped grunting in pain as he slowly opened his eyes to see a green glow coming from Karin's hands to his right arm.

"Huh?" Hiroki asked confused.

The wound continued to heal until it was not there anymore. Karin stopped doing the Mystical Palm technique before she uncovered her hands away from Hiroki's right hand, who was shocked and was now examining right arm, and turned to Shigeri.

"Shigeri.. please remove your hands I want to heal.." Karin said sadly.

Shigeri removed his hands from clutching his chest so Karin to put her hands on himand did the Mystical Palm technique. It took her a few minutes but Shigeri was opening his eyes and was no longer grunting in pain. When Shigeri was fully healed Karin stopped doing the Mystical Palm technique and removed her hands from his chest before she sat down and closed her eyes and sighed in relief.

Shigeri raised the upper half of his body before he looked at his chest in shock before he and Hiroki looked at Karin in surprise.

"You know how to use this Medical technique..?" Hiroki asked shocked.

Karin opened her eyes and looked at Shigeri and Hiroki. "I-I've k-known how to use the Mystical Palm since I was little girl..." she said shyly.

"Well, thank you for healing us." Hiroki said, smiling.

"Yeah, we would've been in a worse condition if you didn't." Shigeri said smiling.

"I-I'm just you 2 are okay now..." Karin said shyly, looking down.

Karin's eyes widened and she became scared as she sensed Zosui behind her. She turned around quickly and put her hands together near her chest as Shigeri pulled out a kunai from his right sleeved jacket and held it in his right hand while Hiroki picked up his sword with his right hand before he held it with both of his hands. Shigeri and Hiroki stood up as they glared at Zosui.

"Put your weapons away." Zosui said.

"Why should we?" Hiroki asked suspicious.

"Because all of you 3 passed the test." Zosui said.

Shigeri and Hiroki stopped glaring as the both of them and Karin looked at Zosui confused.

"Huh?" Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin asked together.

Shigeri put his kunai away back in his right sleeve and Hiroki put his sword back in his sword holster with his right hand. Karin slowly stood up from the ground.

"You're first mission as Team 9 starts tomorrow morning at 10:00, we meet up at the Konoha Gate don't be late, understand..?" Zosui asked serious.

"Yes." Shigeri and Hiroki said.

"H-hai..." Karin stuttered shyly.

"That especially means you.. Karin.." Zosui said, looking down at her.

Karin looked at Zosui, feeling more scared.

* * *

54 minutes later.

Ichiraku Ramen

Karin was sitting at the first stool as she had her hands together in her lap, looking down sadly at the table. She was remembering something earlier that Zosui told her after Shigeri and Hiroki left the Forest.

 _Flashback._

 _Karin was standing in front of Zosui, looking sadly up at him._

 _"Your fighting skills on this test was weak, your team mates were trying to defeat me but you merely stood far away and watched." Zosui said. "You should have been sent back to the Academy right now."_

 _Karin looked down sadly._

 _"However.." Zosui said._

 _Karin looked up at Zosui again._

 _"The only reason I've passed you 3 is because you know how to heal your team mates, which would be good for The Hidden Leaf." Zosui said._

 _Karin continued to listen to Zosui as he talked._

 _"Don't expect me to teach you anything, train under someone else. As far as I'm concerned your only duty on the team is to heal your 2 team mates." Zosui said. "If you don't heal them properly your status as a Ninja will be terminated permanently, I don't care if you're the Fourth Hokage's niece."_

 _Karin looked down at the ground sadly again. "Hai." she said._

 _Flashback ends._

Karin sighed softly. _"He's right.. I am weak, the only thing I am good for is healing..."_ she thought.

"Hey, Karin!" a man's voice said.

Karin quickly looked up as she was pushed out of her thoughts to see Teuchi, in his usual outfit, was staring down at her. Ayame, in her usual outfit, was making ramen for a man on the third seat.

"Oh, hi Teuchi.." Karin greeted shyly and politely.

"Is everything alright?" Teuchi asked concerned.

"N-no it's nothing important.." Karin said.

"Well you haven't ordered anything yet and you're staring off." Teuchi said.

"I'm waiting for Oniisan to arrive so we can order." Karin said.

"What's taking him so long?" Teuchi asked.

"I guess he's still taking his test, I hope he is okay..." Karin said, a little worried. _"Did he.. fail?"_ she thought.

"Don't worry, I'm sure he'll pass just like you did." Teuchi said.

Karin looked down sadly. "I hope you're right..." she said.

After a minute, Karin perked her head up and turned to the right as she sensed Sasuke, Sakura, and their Jonin Leader, Kakashi, which confused her.

 _"That's strange if they're finished.. then why isn't Oniisan with them..?"_ Karin thought confused. _"Did they fail?"_

Karin turned back to Teuchi. "I'll be right back." she said before getting up from the stool and left Ichiraku Ramen.

Karin walked through the crowd of people as she was trying to get to the 3 chakras. After almost 2 minutes, she was now standing in front of Sasuke, who was standing on the left and had a dark blue bag that was wrapped around him on his right shoulder, a small round light brown pouch on the left side of his pants, and a black shuriken holster on his right leg with some white tape wrapped under it, his hands in his pockets, Sakura, who was standing on the right side had a light pink bag that was wrapped around her on her right shoulder, a dark blue shuriken holster on her right leg of her pants with some white tape wrapped under it, and a small light brown pouch on the left side of quipao dress, and a tall pale skinned man that looked to be in his late 20's, had spiky silver hair often oriented to his left-side, dark grey eyes, and typically a relaxed, heavy-lidded expression, wearing a dark blue mask that covered the lower half of his face, his dark blue forehead protector was covering his left eye, Konoha flak jacket uniform, dark blue finger-less gloves with metal plates on the backhands and is seen with a chain necklace underneath, a small light brown pouch on the left side of his pants, white tape wrapped around his right thigh and lower legs, who stopped a few feet from Karin.

"Hi Karin." Sasuke greeted.

"Well hi Karin." Sakura greeted smiling.

"So you must be Karin, the Fourth Hokage was talking about. Nice to meet you." the man greeted.

"Hello to you um, Sasuke, Sakura, and Kakashi." Karin greeted politely.

"Guess what, Squad 7 officially became a team and we start our mission tomorrow." Sakura said bragging.

"That's wonderful." Karin said.

"Did you pass your test Karin." Sasuke asked.

"Hai." Karin said.

"That's great." Sasuke said.

"Um do you know where Oniisan is if you're done with your test?" Karin asked concerned.

"Oh we decided to leave him tied to a stump in the Training Ground." Sakura said.

"W-w-what?!" Karin stuttered sadly. "That was mean of all of you!"

Karin quickly ran passed them as Sasuke, Kakashi, and Sakura watched her run off.

"She really is attached to Naruto isn't she?" Kakashi questioned.

"Karin is always with him." Sakura said to Kakashi.

Sasuke started to walk into the direction Karin ran off to.

"Sasuke-kun where are you going?" Sakura asked, turning to look at him.

Sasuke stopped in his tracks. "I have to go do something." he said before he walked away again.

 _"I wonder where he's going?"_ Sakura thought.

* * *

Forest.

8 minutes later.

Naruto, now having white tape and a black shuriken holster wrapped around his right leg, was struggling to get out of the large brown stump he was tied to with rope.

"Hey! Anybody out there!" Naruto yelled loudly. "Untie me!"

"Oniisan!" a girl's voice yelled.

Naruto looked forward to see Karin was running towards him. He started to smile.

"Karin, thank goodness you're here!" Naruto said. "Can you untie me?"

Karin stopped in front of Naruto. "Okay, Oniisan." she said before she looked at the rope that tied Naruto and walked behind it see a knot.

Karin immediately started to untie the rope with both of her hands carefully. "I can't believe they didn't even try to get you unloose." she said sadly.

"They did this on purpose." Naruto said annoyed.

As soon as Karin was done untying the knot the rope fell to the ground freeing Naruto, who moved forward from the stump and stretched out a little. Karin walked from around the stump and in front of Naruto.

Karin hugged Naruto. "Congratulations on you and your team passing the test Oniisan." she said.

Naruto hugged Karin back. "Thanks, Karin." he said then pulled away. "I'm sure your team passed there's as well."

"Hai." Karin said.

"That's good news too."Naruto said.

"Do you think that Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina know already?" Karin asked.

"They'll figure it out later but first let's go eat at Ichiraku Ramen." Naruto said.

"Hai." Karin said.

Not far away, Sasuke was standing on a tree branch watching Naruto and Karin walk away from the stump.

* * *

3 and a half weeks later.

Daytime.

Konohagakure Gate.

Kushina, in her usual outfit, and Karin were standing in front of Naruto, Sasuke, who has replaced the dark blue bag around him with a gray backpack, Kakashi who was now wearing a brown backpack, Sakura who was now wearing a cream colored bag that only had the left shoulder on it, and an old brown skinned man that had spiky grey hair, a large grey beard, black eyes, wearing green glasses, a light brown pointed hat on his head, a dark brown sleeveless v-neck shirt with a brown obi, long brown pants, a pair of brown sandals, white towel around his neck, a brown backpack on his shoulders, and a beige mat rolled up above it, was standing near them. The man was named Tazuna.

Karin was holding a cream clothed wrapped bento box that had the Uzumaki clan crest on it with both hands.

"How long will you all be gone Oniisan?" Karin asked.

"I don't know but we'll be back soon, dattebayo." Naruto said.

"Naruto, I know you and your team we'll do great, but don't do anything reckless, dattebane." Kushina said.

"Hai." Naruto said.

"Oh here's your lunch." Karin said, handing him the bento box with both hands.

"Thanks Karin." Naruto said, grabbing the bento box with his right hand.

Kakashi turned around around. "Okay let's go." he said before walking away from the gate.

Sakura and Tazuna turned around and walked behind Kakashi.

"See you later." Naruto said.

"Goodbye Karin." Sasuke said.

"You too, Naruto and Sasuke." Karin said.

Naruto and Sasuke turned around and walked after Kakashi, Tazuna, and Sakura.

Karin sadly watched Team 7 and Tazuna walked away from the Konohagakure Gate.

 _"Be careful in the Land of Waves Oniisan please..."_ Karin thought worried.

Karin suddenly felt a hand on her left shoulder, she turned to the right to see her Aunt Kushina has her right hand on her left shoulder, smiling down at her.

"You don't have to worry, your cousin maybe goofy but I'm sure he can handle himself." Kushina said.

"I hope you're right Aunt Kushina." Karin said as she looked watched Team 7 and Tazuna continued to walk away.

"It's been a while since I've taught you a technique since you've started Team 9, how about I teach you the Tree Climbing Technique." she said.

Karin looked back at her Aunt Kushina. "Huh, really?" she questioned.

"Of course, Karin-dear." Kushina said standing up straight, releasing her right hand from Karin's left shoulder. "Let's get started okay."

"H-hai." Karin said smiling softly, nodding.

* * *

End of Chapter 9.

Please review.

No Flames.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10.

Please review.

No Flames.

* * *

2 months later.

Daytime.

Karin, in her usual outfit (including her brown forehead protector) and her brown pouch wrapped around her waist, was walking from the Uzumaki clan compound to the Uchiha clan compound.

 _"I wonder why Oniisan didn't come with me today..?"_ Karin thought curiously.

After a few minutes, Karin was in the Uchiha clan compound and was a 4 feet away from Fugaku and Mikoto's house, she looked to see Mikoto, in her usual outfit and yellow apron, was sweeping the front porch. Mikoto stopped sweeping when she saw Karin walking towards her.

"Oh good morning, Karin." Mikoto greeted smiling.

"Good morning to you too, Mikoto." Karin greeted softly, stopping in front of Mikoto.

"You're hear so you and Sasuke can walk together to Team 7's meeting?" Mikoto asked.

Karin blushed furiously at what Mikoto just said to her, she looked down at the ground. "W-w-well O-oniisan was supposed to be here with me.. b-but I think he went to the meeting instead of coming here first.." she said shyly.

"Oh, okay." Mikoto said.

Karin stopped blushing and looked up as she sensed Sasuke was coming out of the house. One of the main shoji doors slid open to reveal Sasuke, in his usual outfit (including his forehead protector), his small light brown pouch, and black shuriken holster, before he slid it closed with his right hand. Mikoto moved to the right so that Sasuke could see Karin. Sasuke and Karin were now in front of each other, staring at one another.

"Hi, Karin." Sasuke said smiling.

"H-hello to you too, Sasuke..." Karin said shyly, blushing lightly. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yes." Sasuke said.

"Goodbye, Mikoto." Karin said facing her.

"See you soon, Karin." Mikoto said.

Karin turned back as she and Sasuke were walking away from the house.

"Where has Naruto gone?" Sasuke asked, placing his hands in his pockets.

"I don't know probably to Team 7's meeting." Karin said, putting her hands together.

"It's been awhile since we've walked together." Sasuke said, looking at Karin.

Karin looked at Sasuke. "Since the Academy Graduation a few weeks ago..." she said blushing lightly.

"How long will you be on our Team?" Sasuke asked curiously.

Karin stopped blushing as she looked up at the sky.

 _Flashback._

 _4 days ago._

 _Forest._

 _Zosui, in his usual outfit, was standing in front of Karin, looking down at her._

 _"The Fourth Hokage wants you work on another team for awhile." Zosui said._

 _"Me? H-he said that?" Karin asked shyly, looking up at him sadly._

 _"I've agreed to what he said since Team 9 we'll be working with a temporary replacement for you." Zosui said._

 _Karin continued to look up at Zosui sadly._

 _"Do whatever they say and don't embarrass this team, doesn't mean that you're a joke doesn't mean the rest of us are." Zosui said. "Keep that in mind."_

 _Karin sadly bowed her head. "Hai." she said then looked up at Zosui again. "Which team will I be temporarily assigned to?"_

 _"Team 7." Zosui said._

 _Karin gasped in shock._

 _Flashback ends._

"I don't know yet." Karin said then looked at Sasuke again on the left. "All I know is that it's temporary."

"Well I was that you stay a little more on Team 7, you've been a great help since you're assigned to us." Sasuke said smiling.

Karin blushed furiously before she quickly turned forward. "Th-thank you, S-sasuke.. I-It's nice to work with you, too." she said shyly.

* * *

10 minutes later.

Konohagakure Cemetery.

Sasuke and Karin arrived to see Kakashi, in his usual outfit and now having a black shuriken holster on his right leg, Naruto, in his usual outfit (including his forehead protector), his small light brown pouch, and black shuriken holster, and Sakura, in her usual outfit (including her forehead protector), her small light brown pouch, and dark blue shuriken holster, were standing a few feet away from them.

"So you 2 finally arrived." Kakashi said.

Sakura started smiling brightly. "Good morning, Sasuke-kun." she greeted.

Sasuke ignored Sakura as he and Karin stopped right in front of them.

"Hello Oniisan." Karin greeted.

"Hi, Karin." Naruto greeted smiling.

"Now we're all here, let's get started." Kakashi said before turning around and walked forward then the 4 of them walked after him.

The 5 of them were beside each other from left to right: Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi. They walked down the steps and through the Cemetery and started to walk up stairs.

"Kakashi-sensei, what's our new mission, dattebayo." Naruto asked.

"Before that, I want to show you something." Kakashi said. "Look here."

The 5 of them stopped and looked up at the Will of Fire Statu then at the large silver plaque below it.

"The names of legendary heroes are carved here." Kakashi said.

"Legendary heroes?" Sasuke questioned.

"I read and heard about this." Karin said.

Naruto smiled. "I'm definitely going to make it so my name gets on here!" he said, pointing his right thumb at his face.

Kakashi turned and looked at Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, and Sakura.

"They were all killed in action during missions for our Village." Kakashi said.

Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, and Sakura turned to the left to look at Kakashi.

"Huh?!" Sakura asked confused.

Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, and Sakura looked looked back at the plaque. Kakashi turned around and looked at the Cemetery.

"But there are those who put their lives at risk and fought for the Village... and even saved their comrades. Yet, they weren't given a heroes' burial, let alone in an ordinary grave." Kakashi explained.

Karin suddenly thought of her father and looked down at the ground sadly. _"Dad.."_ she thought.

Karin suddenly felt a hand on her left shoulder, she looked up at the left to see Sasuke had his right hand on her left shoulder, looking at her worried.

"Um, don't worry I'm fine..." Karin said.

Sasuke softly took his right hand off of Karin's left shoulder. Kakashi walked forward then Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, and Sakura turned around and followed after him. Kakashi and Sasuke put their hands in their pockets.

After a few minutes of walking, Kakashi, Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, and Sakura finally made it and stopped at a field that has trees nearby that had a medium sized grey rock with small grey rocks around it, they all looked down at the rocks.

Sakura raised her right hand to her chest. "Why isn't this person with the others?" she asked.

Kakashi closed his eyes. "During an extremely difficult mission, he was a captain and infiltrated enemy territory... There, he was faced with a difficult choice. Continue the mission or sacrifice the lives of his men..." he said then opened his eyes.

 _"So.. he must have chosen to save his comrades..."_ Karin thought.

Naruto and Sakura looked up at Kakashi.

Sakura put her right hand down. "Which did he choose?" she asked.

Naruto looked at Sakura. "Clearly, he chose his comrades' lives, right?" he said then looked at Kakashi.

Sasuke and Karin looked up at Kakashi.

"In order to save the lives of his his comrades, he cancelled the mission." Kakashi said.

"I knew it!" Naruto said, looking away.

Sasuke closed his eyes.

Kakashi stepped forward a little. "However, the Village suffered huge losses. He was held responsible and blamed for his actions... In the end, even the men whose lives he saved critized him." he said. "As a result, the deep hurt took its toll mentally and physically... and he took his own life."

Sakura put her hands together near her chest. ".. But... that's.." she stuttered.

"Why?!" Naruto said.

"W-w-what?" Karin asked sadly, shocked.

"He broke the code in order to save his men's lives!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "The first thing we learn at the Academy is that the mission takes utmost priority, under the shinobi rules." he said.

Karin turned and looked at Sasuke sadly. "Huh?" she asked shocked.

"But!" Naruto said as he turned to the left to look at Sasuke.

Sakura put her left hand down.

"In the Shinobi World, those who break the rules are scum." Kakashi said.

Sakura put her right hand down now. Naruto turned and looked down at the rocks again. Sasuke turned away to the left, crossing his arms together.

"That's..." Naruto said, raising his left fist.

Karin turned and looked down at the ground beside her.

"However! Those who don't value their comrades... are worse than scum." Kakashi said.

Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, and Sakura looked up at Kakashi.

Kakashi smiled as he raised his right index finger. "And so, until you get the signal to assemble... go do some training." he said then lowered his right hand. "Scatter!"

"R-right!" Naruto and Sakura yelled before running to the right.

"Hai." Karin said before she walked to the left.

Karin glanced behind her to see Kakashi and Sasuke were talking before she turned forward as she continued to walk forward.

 _"I guess... if we were on a dangerous mission if wouldn't care..."_ Karin thought, looking down sadly at the ground.

As she continued walking Karin sensed Sasuke coming towards her, she suddenly felt a hand on her left shoulder, she looked up at the left to see Sasuke had his right hand on her left shoulder, looking at her concerned.

"What's wrong, Karin?" Sasuke asked.

Karin continued to look at Sasuke for a second before she looked at the ground sadly, not even saying a word to Sasuke.

"Please tell me. Is something wrong?" Sasuke asked worried.

"Why.. why did you say that..?" Karin asked sadly.

Sasuke took his right hand off of Karin's left shoulder. Karin turned around to face Sasuke and looked up at him sadly.

"My Dad, your Dad, and my Uncle Minato... were friends... best friends... they my Dad sacrificed his life for them, our clans, and others so they could live... that was the last time I saw him..." Karin said sadly.

Sasuke looked at Karin with sad and guilt, he put his hands on her shoulders. "I'm really sorry that I've said that Karin, I didn't mean it." he said.

Karin looked down at the ground, knowing what Sasuke was true but she wanted to say something. "If we were on a mission... would you really sacrifice me.. um us to complete the mi-" she said shyly but was cut off when Sasuke pulled her into a hug his head on her left shoulder.

Karin's eyes widened as Sasuke's hug surprised her.

"I would never make that decision." Sasuke said. "I would choose to forget the the mission and choose your life.. your lives instead... I promise..."

Karin blushed furiously at what Sasuke just said, she was about to hug him back until she suddenly thought about Naruto. Karin slowly stopped blushing as she pulled away from Sasuke.

"I think we should go after Oniisan and Sakura right now..." Karin said shyly to Sasuke.

"Oh, right." Sasuke said, slowly pulling away from Karin.

...

2 minutes later.

Naruto and Sakura were walking through the forest near a dried up river. Sakura's hands were behind her back together.

"I have a feeling that today's the day we'll get an S-ranked mission!" Naruto said smiling then raised his right fist. "All right! I'm gonna go all out!"

"Honestly... How can you be so positive about life?" Sakura asked.

Naruto and Sakura stopped walking as Naruto turned around to face Sakura.

"Well, I'm gonna be the Hokage some day! For the sake of the Village I can't be a downer!" Naruto said.

Sakura closed her eyes as she sighed. "Talk about dreaming..." she said.

"No..." a male voice said.

Naruto and Sakura turned around and looked up to see Sasuke landing on a tree branch then put his right hand on it and Karin running and stopping next to the tree Sasuke was on.

"It's possible Naruto might become the Hokage." Sasuke said, closing his eyes.

Karin looked above her at Sasuke. "What?" she questioned, confused at why was Sasuke suddenly complimenting Naruto.

Sakura released her hands from her back, looking at Sasuke confused. "Huh?" she asked.

Naruto raised both of his fists, smiling. "Sasuke!" he said.

Sasuke opened his eyes, looking at Naruto seriously.

"So you do acknowledge my abilities, after all!" Naruto said.

"Don't be stupid." Sasuke said.

 _"I should have known it wasn't a compliment from the beginning..."_ Karin thought as she continued to look up at Sasuke.

Naruto looked at Sasuke confused. "Huh?" he asked.

"You're the son of the Fourth Hokage. I'm just saying even the biggest loser can follow in the Hokage's footsteps with a little favoritism." Sasuke said.

"What?!" Naruto asked, becoming angry at Sasuke then pointed his right index finger at him. "You have no right to talk to me like that until you beat me with your Ninjutsu, dattebayo!"

"Please don't fight Oniisan.. Sasuke.." Karin said sadly, stepping forward from the tree.

"Sorry Karin, this won't take long..." Sasuke said before he disappeared from the tree and in front of Naruto, who backed away a little. "Besides I don't need Ninjutsu to beat him!"

Sakura and Karin quickly looked at Sasuke and Naruto. Sasuke ran up to Naruto and quickly kicked him up in the air and jumped up after him, mmultiply kicking him around. Naruto grunted in pain.

"Lions Barrage!" Sasuke yelled before he kicked Naruto in the stomach with his left leg as he landed on the ground.

Sasuke landed on the ground near Naruto.

Sakura in between Sasuke and Naruto, blocking them from each other. "Stop! Don't fight! We're on the same team!" she yelled.

"Sakura is right. Please stop it you 2." Karin said, walking up to Sasuke's right side and looked at him sadly.

Sasuke looked to the right at Karin and stared into her eyes for a second. "Okay, I'll stop." he said.

Karin sighed in relief before she looked forward to see Sakura staring at her angry and annoyed.

Naruto got up and looked at Sasuke, wiping his mouth with his left arm. "That was nothing..." he said.

"Huh?" Karin asked confused as she looked down at Naruto.

...

5 minutes later.

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura were now standing 20 feet from rocky hills and a really large grey rock in the center of it. Standing from left to right was Sakura, Sasuke, Karin, and Naruto. Sasuke had his hands in his pockets.

Naruto pointed at the large rock with his right index finger. "Sasuke! Let's race to see who can make it to the top of that rock." he said.

"Wait, what?" Karin asked confused, looking at Naruto.

Naruto got down on his knees. "On your mark!" he said.

"Hey!" Sasuke said, looking down at Naruto.

"Get ready... go!" Naruto said before he ran off.

"He doesn't know when to give up!" Sasuke said said annoyed.

"Oniisan, wait come bad-mouth" Karin yelled trying to go after him but was cut off when Sasuke held his right arm in front of her, she looked at him sadly.

"Let him continue to run." Sasuke said.

Karin looked forward as she watched Naruto run to the large rock. _"Oniisan..."_ she thought.

"Are you sure you and Naruto are related?" Sakura asked.

Karin looked to the left at Sakura, she sensed Kakashi coming to their location. Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura suddenly heard a loud popping sound and looked up to see something going into the air with smoke and it exploded.

Kakashi walked up behind Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura and stopped. "Lord Hokage just gave us the sign to assemble." he said.

Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura turned around to face Kakashi.

"But Naruto is..." Sakura said.

"What about Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"He ran to that rock." Karin said.

Why did he ran off?" Kakashi asked.

"Hai... He challenged Sasuke-kun to a race." Sakura said smiling nervously.

Sasuke folded his arms, turning his head to the right. "But I didn't want to get involved." he said.

"Oh, I see." Kakashi said, looking at the huge rock. "Then let's go after.."

2 minutes later.

Kakashi, Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura were running to where Naruto was. Karin sensed Naruto up ahead. The 4 of them stopped when they saw Naruto standing on one of the rocks facing them. They stopped near him.

"What took you guys so long we better hurry or Dad will get mad at us, dattebayo!" Naruto said smiling before jumping off the rock and ran passed them.

Kakashi, Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura watched as Naruto ran off again.

* * *

Konohagakure Gate.

25 minutes later.

The 10 genins were standing in a half circle from left to right was: Kiba, in his usual outfit, with Akamaru on his head, Hinata, in her usual outfit, Shino, in his usual outfit, Ino, in her usual outfit, Choji, in his usual outfit, Shikamaru, in his usual outfit, Sakura, Naruto, Karin, and Sasuke.

There were 3 others unknown beside them, the first one was a male that looked to be 13 years old, having fair skin, shiny black hair that's in a bowl-cut style, round black eyes with prominent lower eyelashes, and very thick black eyebrows, wearing a green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, a red forehead protector worn as a belt, white bandages around his forearms up to his fingers, and black sandals his name was Rock Lee, the second one was a girl that looked to be 13, had fair skin, dark brown hair that was put in two Chinese-style buns on her head with short fringe-bangs framing her face, chocolate brown eyes, wearing a pink sleeveless qipao-style blouse with red sleeve trimmings and yellow fastening buttons, dark green pants, blue sandals, a light brown pouch behind her on the left side, a black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around her right thigh, and a blue forehead protector on her forehead, her name was Tenten, and the third one was a male that looked to be 13 years old, having fair skin, long dark brown hair tied in a loose ponytail, featureless lavender eyes, wearing a short sleeved khaki shirt, a dull blue shirt beneath that, and mesh armour beneath thatdark brown shorts, blue sandals, and wrapped bandages around his right arm, chest, and right leg, and a black forehead protector, under which was a smaller headband with two straps that frame the sides of his face, his name was Neji Hyuga.

The 4 Jonins were standing in front of them from left to right was Kurenai Yugi, a fair skinned woman of slender build that looked to be 27, long black untamed hair reaching her upper back, and very unique eyes that are red in colour, with an additional ring in them, make-up consisting of red lipstick and purple eye shadow, wearing a red mesh armour blouse with only the right sleeve visible, broad material which resembles bandages with a pattern on it similar to those of rose thorns, blue forehead protector on her forehead, black sandals, and her hands and upper thighs are also wrapped in bandages, Might Guy, a man with fair skin that looked to be 26, having shiny bowl style hair cut and remarkably thick black eyebrows, black eyes, a green jumpsuit, orange striped leg warmers, and the standard Konoha flak jacket uniform which he normally leaves unzipped, red forehead protector is worn around his waist like a belt, and black sandals, Kakashi, and Asuma Sarutobi, a man looked to be 27 years old, having brown skin, dark brown eyes, short black spiky hair, a black beard, wearing the Konohagakure flak jacket uniform, black Konohagakure forehead protector wrapped around his forehead, a light grey sash that had the kanji for "Fire" (火) marked on it around his waist, a pair of black bangles, white bandages wrapped around the arms of his sleeves, a small light brown pouch on the back of his pants on the left side, black shuriken holster and white bandages on the right side of his leg, and black sandals.

Everyone stood quiet for awhile.

"All of our classmates have assembled for this mission." Ino said.

"Yeah..." Shikamaru said.

Naruto started to smile.

"It's turned out just as we feared, huh." Choji said, putting his hands behind his head.

"What?" Ino asked, looking at Choji.

Shikamaru looked at Choji. "Well, I want as little as possible to do with Naruto and complete the mission successfully." he said.

"Each team will take a separate route to the target site." Asuma said. "Once there, you will search for the missing Shinobi. Send word the minute you discover them! Do not rush out to try and rescue them! Understand?"

 _"Huh? Why can't we do that?"_ Karin thought confused.

You don't have to keep reminding us." Shikamaru said.

Karin turned and saw Naruto stepped forward a little.

"I'll rescue every one of them, dattebayo!" Naruto said serious, raising his right fist.

 _"Oniisan, we have to be careful on this one..."_ Karin thought.

"Seems like someone over there doesn't get it." Choji said.

"I knew it... This is going to be a drag." Shikamaru said.

"Scatter!" Asuma yelled.

Kurenai, Kiba, Shino, Akamaru, and Hinata ran to the right. Asuma, Choji, Shikamaru, and Ino ran to the middle. Kakashi, Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, and Sakura ran to the right. And Guy, Lee, Tenten, and Neji ran to the far right.

"All right! Let's do this!" Naruto said.

* * *

Night time.

Hokage Mansion.

Hallway.

Kakashi, Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, and Sakura were walking to the Hokage's Office.

"We're the last ones to arrive here..." Karin said, sensing Team Guy, Team 10, Team 8, and her Uncle Minato in the room.

"As usual by Naruto." Sasuke said

"Hey!" Naruto yelled, looking annoyed at Sasuke.

"Calm down." Kakashi said.

When the 5 of them finally made it to the Hokage's Office, Kakashi opened the door with right hand, Naruto smiled as his hands were behind his back.

"Sorry, Team 7 is late." Kakashi said sadly, entering.

Sasuke came in casually, Karin walked in sad and nervous, and Sakura came in smiling and embarrassed while hiding halfway through the door.

"We're all here now." Minato said.

The 4 Jonins were standing from left to right was: Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Guy. The 13 genins were standing in front of the Jonins from left to right was: Naruto, Sasuke, Karin, Sakura, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, Tenten, Lee, and Neji. Minato, in his usual outfit, was standing in front of his desk facing the Jonins and the Genins.

"I know it's sudden, but let me go over the mission." Minato said.

"I hope its way more exciting than looking for a lost cat." Naruto said, raising his fists in the air.

Asuma, Choji, and Ino turned their heads to the right as looked away from Naruto. Kakashi, Sakura, and Sasuke looked annoyed while Karin looked sadly at Naruto. Naruto stopped what he was doing when he saw some people staring at him. Everyone looked at Minato again.

"This mission is very important." Minato said.

Naruto started to smile.

Minato folded his arms. "3 teams of Shinobi that were dispatched on secret missions have all gone missing. Your mission is to search and find them." he said.

"Yahoo!" Naruto yelled, his eyes sparkling.

As Naruto became excited at the news all of the Genins looked at him annoyed except for Karin and Hinata who looked at him sadly, Naruto turned and saw the Genins staring at him and he stopped what he was doing.

 _"Oniisan, I know you're excited but we have to listen for the mission..."_ Karin thought sadly.

All of the Genins looked at Minato again.

"However, you are to contact Konohagakure the moment they are found. Any attempts at rescue are forbidden." Minato said.

 _"Huh?"_ Karin thought confused.

Naruto looked confused. "Why?" he asked.

Shikamaru crossed his arms and sighed before uncrossing his arms. Ino, Choji, and Sakura looked at Shikamaru.

"Considering who's been chosen, the answer should be pretty obvious to everyone." Shikamaru said, looking at Naruto.

Naruto raised his fists again, smiling. "Is it because we're all elite Ninja overflowing with talent?!" he asked, his eyes sparkling.

All of the Genins except Karin and Hinata looked at Naruto annoyed again.

 _"I don't think it's the kind of mission you're thinking about Oniisan that Uncle Minato is going to be assigning all of us... but it could be close to it..."_ Karin thought, looking at Naruto. _"Besides it wasn't long ago that we were still in the Academy..."_

Minato closed his eyes for a moment before opening them back up. "Nearly all the Shinobi who went missing are capable Jonin... But the only one who was able to make it back to the Village, was a Genin. So it could mean, experience and maturity are being targeted." he said.

 _"Oh, I understand.."_ Karin thought.

"Which means?" Naruto asked confused.

"In other words, we were picked because we're newbies who just became Genin." Shikamaru said.

"Well, you could put it that way..." Minato said, smiling nervously.

"What, is that all?" Naruto asked.

* * *

Tomorrow.

Daytime.

Forest.

Kakashi, Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, and Sakura were hopping from tree to tree. Karin immediately noticed that Kakashi had turned his head to the left.

 _"Huh?"_ Karin thought.

"Everyone, stop!" Kakashi said before he landed on the ground.

Standing from left to right: Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, and Sakura landed on the ground seconds later. Kakashi turned around to face the 4 Genins.

"What is it?" Naruto asked before he stepped forward a little. "Isn't our target Village further ahead?"

"Look." Sasuke said.

Sasuke, Karin, Naruto, and Sakura turned to the left to see some yellow butterflies with black stripes on the right side of their wings flying in the air.

"What's that?" Naruto asked.

"Shinobi Agenda?" Sakura questioned.

"All right! I'm gonna go catch 'em!" Naruto yelled before he jumped after them.

"Hey! You!" Sakura yelled.

"Oniisan, wait!" Karin said.

"That's really not necessary you 2..." Kakashi said.

"I'll bring him back!" Sasuke said before he went after Naruto.

"Oh really?" Kakashi said.

"Come on!" Sakura said.

"I'm sure Oniisan and Sasuke we'll be back soon..." Karin said.

"Oh boy..." Kakashi said.

Karin suddenly sensed weird chakra coming from the ground, she looked down to see many strings of chakra.

 _"Wh-what... Wh-what is this..?"_ Karin thought. _"Where is it coming from..?"_

Karin looked around at the ground and couldn't find the source, before she could continue to look for it she suddenly sensed it was around Kakashi. She heard a thud and turned around to see Kakashi wasn't there anymore, now she noticed that she couldn't sense the weird threads of chakra anymore nor Kakashi. Sakura turned around and noticed that Kakashi wasn't there anymore either.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled.

 _"What's happening?"_ Karin thought.

"Do know where he went?" Sakura asked Karin.

"I don't know? We should call Oniisan and Sasuke and tell them..." Karin said.

...

Naruto was climbing up a tree trying to get to the Shinobi Ageha and was almost close until Sasuke appeared on the ground.

"Naruto! Get back here right now!" Sasuke yelled.

The Shinobi Ageha flew away, making Naruto upset.

"What the hell?" Naruto yelled annoyed, landing on the ground beside Sasuke. "I almost had it!"

"Don't go off on your own during a mission." Sasuke said.

"What did you just say?" Naruto questioned. "I don't take orders from you!"

Sasuke and Naruto glared at each other.

"What? This isn't an order!" Sasuke yelled. "I'm telling you to act more like a Shinobi! Going off on your own puts others in-"

"Sasuke-kun! Kakashi-sensei's in trouble!" Sakura yelled.

"Oniisan, help!" Karin yelled.

Sasuke and Naruto looked in the direction where Karin and Sakura's voices were coming from.

Karin and Sakura waited for Sasuke and Naruto to return, Karin turned as she sensed they were here. Sasuke and Naruto landed on the ground near Karin and Sakura.

"What happened?" Sasuke asked.

"Kakashi-sensei's... when we noticed, he..." Sakura said putting her hands together near her chest, then turned to a patch of dirt that had a chain and seal on it.

"He was dragged underground, huh?" Sasuke questioned.

"No way!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke turned to Karin. "Karin." he said.

"Hai.." Karin said.

"Do you sense where Kakashi is underground?" Sasuke asked.

"No, his chakra suddenly vanished when I turned around..." Karin said.

"Can you please sense him again..?" Sasuke said.

"H-hai..." Karin said.

Karin closed her eyes and tried to detect for Kakashi's chakra see anywhere but couldn't find him, after a minute she opened her eyes and looked down sadly at the ground.

"I'm sorry... I couldn't sense Kakashi's chakra anymore.. either someone is blocking it or he's no longer with us..." Karin said.

Sasuke walked over to Karin and stopped in front of her.

"It's okay, you did your best." Sasuke said.

Karin looked up at Sasuke.

"But he's not dead." Sasuke said.

"Did you sense anything before Kakashi-sensei disappeared?" Naruto asked.

"Well, I did sense these weird threads of chakra..." Karin said.

"Weird threads of chakra?" Naruto questioned.

"Hai, I sensed them underground and around Kakashi but they had no source where to go to..." Karin said.

"I, see." Sasuke said. "Let's look around."

2 minutes later.

Naruto and Sasuke was searching in the trees and Sakura and Karin were searching on the ground. After awhile the 4 of them regrouped back on the ground, Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura stood in a small circle while Naruto sat next to a tree.

"Hey!" Naruto yelled.

"Kakashi-sensei is probably in enemy hands." Sasuke said.

Sakura out her hands together, worried. "What are we supposed to do?"

"We have to think of something... before this situation gets worse" Karin said.

Naruto stood up, raising his right fist. Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura turned to Naruto. "What else is there to do?! We're gonna find him no matter what and bring him back!" he yelled.

"Damn it." Sasuke said.

"I'm never giving up!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke and Naruto started arguing.

* * *

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura were now hopping from tree to tree with Naruto ahead of them.

"Why you-" Naruto yelled.

"Wait, Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke yelled.

"I already told you! I'm not giving up!" Naruto yelled.

"Hold on, Oniisan! At least slow down a little!" Karin said.

"But where are you going?" Sakura asked.

"Well, I don't know, but..." Naruto said.

"Are you really the son of the Fourth Hokage?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto became angry and landed on the ground and Sasuke landed on the ground seconds after, Naruto turned around and grabbed Sasuke by the collar with his right hand.

"What did you say?!" Naruto asked, yelling.

"Do you really think the Hokage would send us out without making any preventive measures before hand?" Sasuke questioned."

Naruto released Sasuke's collar. Karin and Sakura landed a few feet away from them.

 _"Thank goodness they didn't fight again..."_ Karin thought.

"I saw the Hokage pass out special kunai to the Captains, back then." Sasuke said.

Karin suddenly remembered her Uncle Minato passing them out to the Jonins. _"So... that's what it's for..."_ she thought.

"Special kunai?" Naruto asked confused.

"Yeah... The one he marks when he uses the Transportation Ninjutsu to teleport." Sasuke said. "As long as the marks is there, he can track anyone, anywhere."

Naruto couldn't understand what Sasuke just said but Karin and Sakura could.

"Transportation Ninjutsu?" Naruto questioned.

Sasuke looked at Naruto annoyed. "You know what Summoning Jutsu is, right?" he asked.

"Uh... yeah!" Naruto said.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "Think of it as a type of that jutsu. The special kunai is the target and no matter how far away you are... you can transport to the kunai in an instant..." he said. "Lord Fourth is the only one who can use that jutsu right now."

"I see. I gotta admit... My Dad's pretty awesome!" Naruto said smiling.

"Wait! I don't think... that's going to happen." Sakura said, landing next to Sasuke and Naruto.

"Sakura is right..." Karin said, walking up to Sasuke and Naruto as well.

Sakura held out the special kunai with both hands so the 4 of them can see.

"Huh? That's..." Naruto questioned confused.

"Me and Karin found it at the spot right now." Sakura said.

Naruto, Karin, and Sakura looked at Sasuke, who was becoming a little angry.

"This is the worst situation we can be in..." Sasuke said.

"U-um.. there has to be something we can do... Right..?" Karin said sadly.

"We need to search for the other teams." Sakura said.

Sasuke turned to Karin. "Karin, can you detect any of the other teams near our area?" he asked.

"Um.. let me see.." Karin said before she closed her eyes.

Karin sensed the area they're in and immediately detected Team Guy's, Team 10's, and Team 8's chakras, she opened her eyes again.

"I'm sensing that all of the Teams are near the area but neither of them have a Jonin anymore just like us..." Karin said.

"Which one of them is closer to are location?" Sasuke asked.

"Team 8..." Karin said.

"In which direction?" Naruto asked.

Karin raised her left hand and pointed to the right with her index, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura looked in the direction Karin pointed.

"There are that way..." Karin said then lowered her left hand.

"Let's go!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura started running in the direction Karin just pointed at. Running from left to right was: Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, and Karin. As the 4 of them continued running, Karin gasped in shock as she suddenly sensed an unknown chakra coming towards them. It was dark and powerful.

 _"I don't understand.. I didn't sense this chakra before... did it cover up it's chakra..?"_ Karin thought frightened.

"Karin." a male voice said.

Karin was pushed out of her thoughts as as she looked to see Sasuke was looking at her. "Huh?" she asked.

"What's the matter?" Sasuke asked.

"I-I think we should stop.. I'm sensing a chakra coming towards us.." Karin said.

"What?!" Naruto questioned, looking at Karin.

"It's dark and powerful..." Karin said, scared.

"Which direction is it coming from?" Sasuke asked.

"On the left... and it's coming quickly..." Karin said.

"We have to come up with a plan!" Naruto said.

"Too late.. it's here..." Karin said scared.

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura looked to the left to see a shadow quickly ran passed them, it was a man in a robe and hat. When they made it to the clear side of the Forest, they saw the unknown figure jump into a red circle and red triangle. The 4 of them stopped a few feet away from it and the unknown figure. The unknown figure turned towards them and it was a tall man.

The man looked to be 19 and had fair skin, medium-length grey hair that was slicked back, distinctive purple eyes, no shirt, dark green nail polish on his toes and fingers, an orange ring on his left index finger, which bears the kanji for "three" (三, _san),_ wearing a light brown had, long grey pants, grey sandals, black cloak with some red clouds on it, which was slightly opened, revealing his Yugakure forehead protector around his neck, which was scratched, a weird amulet, a red Triple-Bladed Scythe on his back that has a long grey metal cable at the end of it.

The man threw his scythe towards Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura with his left hand, it was heading towards Naruto. Naruto quickly jumped up to dodge the scythe, the man moved the long metal cable around so it can go in the air after Naruto. Naruto pulled a kunai from his pouch with his right hand and tried to defend himself from the scythe, but the scythe scratched the right side of his face, causing some blood to flow out of his new wound down his face. Karin's eyes widened quickly at what just happened. The scythe retracted back to the man, who immediately held it with his left hand again. Naruto landed on the ground where he was.

"Oniisan." Karin said sadly, worrying about him.

Naruto looked at Karin. "Don't worry Karin, I'm alright." he said then turned forward to look at the unknown man.

Sasuke and Sakura pulled out a kunai from their pouch and held it with their right hands. Karin looked back at the unknown man, frightened at what he'll do next.

The unknown man brought the scythe close to his face and licked some of Naruto's blood off of the top blade, grinning

"I have already cursed you." the man said.

"What?" Karin asked shocked and scared.

"Huh?" Naruto asked confused.

The man put his right hand on his hat. "Preparations for the ritual are complete!" he said before his skin turned white and black. He tossed his hat into the air. "Now! Let's experience the ultimate pain together!"

 _"Wh-what is he talking about?!"_ Karin thought becoming more frightened, she stepped back a little. _"What's going to happen to Oniisan?"_

"What's with this guy? He keeps talking about curses and rituals? He's dangerous!" Naruto asked.

The man put his right hand into his cloak and pulled out a long sharp circular knife, he turned it around and aimed it at his chest and pierced it. Karin suddenly heard a grunting in pain she turned to the left and her eyes widened in shock and horror when she saw Naruto bleeding on the lower left side of his chest, he crouched down as he closed his eyes clutching his chest with both hands.

"Naruto!" Sasuke yelled.

"Naruto?!" Sakura yelled, putting her hands near her chest.

Karin continued to look at Naruto, blood starting flowing from his mouth, tears forming in her eyes as she started having visions of the past about her father, her mother, and her clan's and Uchiha's dead bodies.

 _"No... No!"_ Karin thought sadly, tears flowing down her face.

Karin ran over to Naruto and crouched down beside him. "Oniisan!" she yelled wrapping her arms around him. "Please... please don't die O-oniisan..."

"Doesn't it hurt?" the man asked, blood dripping from his lips. "It's gonna be excruciating so prepare yourself... It's god's commandment! Tremble in fear!"

Karin looked down at Naruto's lower chest and saw a medium sized circular blood stain on his jumpsuit and started to put both of her hands on his hands.

"Please hold still, Oniisan..." Karin said softly.

"Don't think you can escape my curse! The Shinobi world is cursed! Just give up!" The man yelled, wiggling the sharp knife inside of him.

Naruto didn't struggling one bit from Karin but was still grunting in pain. Karin slowly took a deep breath and exhaled before she started to use the Mystical Palm technique on Naruto's wound. After a minute, the wound on Naruto's lower chest stopped bleeding and started to heal. Naruto stopped grunting in pain as he slowly looked down to see a green glow coming from Karin's hands to his lower chest, then he looked at Karin.

"Th-thanks... K-karin..." Naruto said.

"Please don't waste your strength Oniisan... I-I'm still healing you..." Karin said, some tears were falling from her face.

 _"You're going to be alright... I won't let you die... you can't..."_ Karin thought.

As Karin continued to heal Naruto, she suddenly heard the unknown man speak again.

"Don't think that you healing him doesn't mean he's going to escape my curse!" the man said. "He'll be a great sacrifice to Jashin!"

Karin looked at the man scared and sad.

"You'll be next red head!" the man said, grinning.

Karin gasped in fear.

"An Uzumaki like you would make a great sacrifice to Jashin..." the man said.

Karin continued to stare at the man in fear until Sasuke suddenly blocked her view of him as he stood in front of her and Naruto.

"That will never happen." Sasuke said.

"The Shinobi world is cursed! Get over it!" the man yelled.

 _"Sasuke...!"_ Karin thought, looking up at the back of Sasuke's head.

Karin turned around to face Naruto as she suddenly sensed the Nine-Tails within him, healing him completely of his recent injury including the scratch on the left side of his face. Karin stopped doing the Mystical Palm technique and removed her hands from Naruto's lower chest.

 _"The Nine-Tails's chakra... it's incredible..."_ Karin thought, stunned.

Karin watched as Naruto stood up and looked at the unknown man.

Sasuke, Karin, Sakura, and the unknown man stared at Naruto.

"Huh, but how? You shouldn't be standing at all!" the man said.

Naruto suddenly disappeared, making the unknown man more confused. Karin slowly stood up from the ground.

"Huh? Where did he go?" the man asked himself, taking the knife out of his chest.

4 puffs of smoke appeared around the unknown man to reveal 4 Naruto clones. The 4 Naruto clones kicked the unknown man into the air with their right feet.

"Na... Ru... To..." the 4 Naruto clones yelled, kicking the unknown man around in the air.

The unknown man looked up to see the real Naruto smirking at him while their both in the air.

"Uzumaki Barrage!" Naruto yelled, before kicking the unknown man to the ground where he was standing hard with his right leg.

The unknown man's skin turned back to a fair skin color again.

Naruto landed on the left side of Karin, standing a few steps ahead of her.

"Did you see that? It's my Naruto Uzumaki Barrage!" Naruto said.

Sasuke turned to the left to look at Naruto, lowering his kunai with right hand. "An imitation of my Lions Barrage." he said smirking.

Naruto turned around to look at Sasuke. "What did you say?"he yelled.

 _"Even when fighting... they can't even get along..."_ Karin said sadly.

"This is not the time to be arguing!" Sakura said.

Naruto turned to look at the unknown man, to see his 4 clones were now standing on the unknown man with their right and left legs. "Oh yeah, that's right..." he said, walking up to the unknown man then stopped. "Where's Kakashi?"

The unknown man raised his head from the ground smirking. "Who knows? We were merely hired to help with the experiment." he said.

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura looked down at the unknown man.

"Experiment?" Naruto questioned.

"Yeah... To prove that there's no hope in a cursed Shinobi world." the man said. "It's a pain... so I figured I'd give you the answer real quick, but..."

"What?" Naruto asked.

"I don't think he's the the kind of opponent you can handle." Sasuke said.

Naruto turned around to look at Sasuke. "Why you!" he said angrily then he turned back to face the unknown man.

Karin gasped in shock as she suddenly sensed the weird threads of chakra in the ground again, quickly coming to their location.

 _"What? B-but how..?"_ Karin thought surprised.

Karin turned to look at Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura.

"I'm sensing more of those weird threads of chakra coming towards us..." Karin.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura looked at Karin.

"Wait, what?!" Naruto asked.

The ground shook and Karin and Sakura turned around to see black thread like hairs rising from the ground.

"Oniisan, Sasuke!" Karin yelled.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled, putting her kunai back in her pouch.

Naruto and Sasuke turned around to see the black thread like hairs rising from the ground too.

The unknown man quickly stood up from the ground as he hit all 4 of the Naruto clones with his scythe, making them disappear, before jumping back.

"Why you-! You dare to kick an apostle of God?! Curse you!" the man said before he disappeared.

The black thread like hairs were starting to tangle around Sakura, who yelled and held up her hands.

"What the hell is this, dattebayo?!" Naruto yelled, before he took out a kunai from his pouch with his left hand and threw it at the thread like hairs, which had no affect.

Karin took a few steps back as the thread like hairs starting to come to her, she tightly closed her eyes.

Sasuke made hand signs for a Jutsu:Tiger→ Ram → Monkey → Boar → Horse → Tiger. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he yelled as lots of fire came from his mouth, making sure he hit the thread like hairs not Karin and Sakura.

The thread like hairs started to burn and went back in the hole. Karin opened her eyes as she, Sasuke, and Sakura looked down at the hole. Karin turned and looked around as she saw Naruto running towards her and Sakura.

"Karin, Sakura-chan, are you 2 okay?!" Naruto asked then stopped.

"We're fine, Oniisan." Karin said.

Sasuke stepped forward a little.

Sakura ignored Naruto as she ran passed him over to Sasuke.

"Thank you, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled blushing before she hugged Sasuke.

"Whaaat?!" Naruto asked, turning around annoyed.

Sasuke immediately started to remove Sakura from hugging. "Let go!" he said, completely removing Sakura from him.

Sakura stepped back a little and made a sad face as she was disappointed that Sasuke rejected her. Sasuke looked over at Karin.

"Karin, are you sure you're alright?" Sasuke asked, a little worried.

"I'm okay. Thank you, Oniisan and Sasuke..." Karin said shyly.

Karin looked at Sakura, who was glaring at her for receiving Sasuke's attention, and stared down at the ground sadly.

"Judging by this, there's no doubt the the other teams are in the same predicament." Sasuke said.

Sakura turned around to look at Sasuke again, smiling. "You're right... so what should we do?" she said smiling nervously, closing her eyes.

"The sooner we join up with them, the better." Sasuke said. "Any objections?"

"N-no..." Naruto said annoyed, rubbing the top of his head with his right hand.

Sakura opened her eyes and turned around as she looked at Naruto.

Sasuke looked at Karin again., can you detect the one of the Teams that is closest to our location?" he asked.

"Um.. let me see.." Karin said before she closed her eyes.

Karin sensed the area they're in again and immediately detected Team Guy's, Team 10's, and Team 8's chakras once more but they were in different areas, she opened her eyes again.

"I'm sensing that all of the Teams are still in the area we're in.." Karin said.

"Which one of the Teams is closest to are location now?" Sasuke asked.

"Team Guy..." Karin said.

"In which direction?" Sasuke asked.

Karin raised her left hand and pointed to the left with her index, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura looked in the direction Karin pointed.

"There are that way..." Karin said then lowered her left hand.

"Let's go!" Naruto yelled.

The 4 of them walked where Karin just pointed at.

...

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura were continuing to walk through the Forest. Standing from left to right was: Sasuke, Karin, Sakura, and Naruto. Karin was still sensing Team Guy as they were following their location. Karin was thinking about what the unknown man said.

 _Flashback._

 _"Who knows? We were merely hired to help with the experiment." the unknown man said._

 _Flashback ends._

 _"I wonder what kind of experiment...? And why did it involve all of the Jonin..?"_ Karin thought.

"We don't have a clue about the enemy's strength, so it's better to join up with the others first." Sasuke said.

Naruto put his hands over the back of his head together. "Why are you the one giving orders?" he asked.

When Sasuke stopped, Karin, Sakura, and Naruto stopped as well.

Sasuke turned his head around a little to the left to look at Naruto, his hands in his pockets. "Our Captain's gone. Isn't it standard procedure for the next best-qualified person to make the decisions?" he questioned.

"I agree... If it's between Sasuke, who graduated at the top of the class from the Academy... and you, who came in last in our class, and was only allowed to graduate out of pity..." Sakura said.

"Yeah, if your Dad wasn't the Hokage..." Sasuke said.

"That was really harsh of you 2 to sad that..." Karin said sadly then she suddenly sensed Team Guy heading their way.

"It is true." Sasuke said.

"What? Wanna fight?!" Naruto questions angrily.

"Now that would be interesting. I'll prove who's better." Sasuke said.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's jumpsuit collar with his right hand and Naruto grabbed Sasuke's shirt with his right hand.

"Please.. don't fight you 2..." Karin said sadly.

"Hey, you 2!" Sakura said.

"Never say that again in front of me..." Naruto said.

"They're here..." Karin said.

"Who's here?" Naruto asked Karin.

Sasuke and Naruto released their right hands from one another's collar. Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura looked to the left as they all saw some of the bushes moving. Sasuke and Sakura pulled out a kunai from their pouch and held it with their right hands again, preparing to strike.

"There's no reason for you 2 to pull out your kunais, they're friendly.." Karin said.

Naruto looked at Karin. "Huh?" he questioned, then turned back to the bushes.

The bushes continued to shake until the Tenten, Lee, and Neji's heads popped out.

Sasuke and Sakura lowered their kunais.

"Hey guys! You were all okay?" Naruto said smiling.

Tenten, Lee, and Neji now stood a few feet from the bushes.

"Guy-sensei went missing suddenly." Lee said, stepping up a little.

Sakura folded her arms.

"We know, but Kakashi has also disappeared." Sasuke said.

"There were signs that showed he was dragged underground..." Sakura said.

Neji and Tenten stepped up a little.

"Yes, a black rope-like organism tangled around Sensei and dragged him away!" Tenten said.

 _"Huh?! I-I sense that happening..."_ Karin thought.

"Yeah! That thing attacked us too." Sakura said.

"You encountered the enemy?" Neji asked.

"Yeah... They claimed to be hired." Sasuke said.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Hey, let's hurry and rescue them!" he said.

"Don't be in such a rush." Sasuke said.

"But-!" Naruto said.

"I saw chakra flowing underground just before Guy went missing." Neji said.

"I-I sensed that too.. but they shortly disappeared when Kakashi was taken.." Karin said.

"I see.. however you weren't able to travel around the area like we have.. we've pretty much pinpointed the source of the chakra." Neji said.

Naruto smiled. "Then..." he said.

"The remaining teams should be nearby too." Neji said.

"We need to regroup with every team first... and set up base camp." Sasuke said.

Karin turned to Naruto and watched as he turned around and walked a few steps forward.

 _"What are you thinking about, Oniisan?"_ Karin thought.

"First, we need to regroup with the rest of the teams. There are a few things I want to confirm with them. Like the status of Asuma and Kurenai." Neji said. "Guy lost consciousness... and went missing."

Naruto turned back to the others and stepped forward as he and Karin looked at them.

"The exact same thing happened with Kakashi." Sasuke said.

"Why do you think they both lost consciousness?" Lee asked.

Naruto folded his arms. "Come to think of it... Kakashi-sensei was looking at the Shinobi Ageha butterfly before he disappeared, dattebayo." he said.

"The powdery scales of the Shinobi Ageha and the chakra flowing underground possibly interacted with each other... There's probably a jutsu that doesn't work on us, but affects only the Jonin." Neji said.

 _"This explains a lot..."_ Karin thought.

"But the scales of the Shinobi Ageha aren't toxic." Sakura said.

Neji closed his eyes. "I don't know how the jutsu works. But, like I mentioned, there's one more thing I want to verify!" he said then opened his eyes as he held up a special kunai with his right hand.

"Huh?! It's..." Karin said.

"What? That's-!" Sasuke said.

"Lord Fourth's kunai?" Sakura said.

Naruto looked at Sakura confused. "What's going on, dattebayo? Isn't that the kunai you found earlier, Sakura?" he questioned.

"No... This is the one that Guy-sensei dropped.

"2 Jonins dropped the kunais entrusted to them by Lord Fourth at the spur of the moment... That's hard to believe. So if we figure that the enemy dropped them intentionally..." Sasuke said, then held up a special kunai with his left hand.

"It's got to be someone with considerable of various jutsu?" Neji questioned.

"It's probably someone who knows the secret behind Lord Fourth's kunai..." Sasuke said.

"We'd better hurry up and join up with the other teams fast." Neji said.

"The tracking of Kiba, Shino, and Hinata would be able to pinpoint quite accurately." Tenten said.

"Yeah, I'm sure of it." Neji said.

"We also have Karin to do that as well but she can sense a longer range." Sasuke said.

"Yeah." Naruto said.

Karin looked at Naruto then at Sasuke.

Sakura put her right hand on her right hip. "And once we know the location, can we rescue the captains?" she asked.

Sasuke put his hands in his pockets. "No. Once we know their situation, we'll send word back to the Village." he said.

"Right. We haven't been given the orders for a rescue." Neji said.

Karin looked at Naruto again, seeing that something was bothering him.

 _"Oniisan..."_ Karin thought.

"Karin." Sasuke said.

Karin turned back to see Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, Lee, Tenten, and Sakura looking at her.

"Karin, can you detect all of the remaining Teams in our location?" Sasuke asked.

"Um.. H-hai.." Karin said before she closed her eyes.

Karin sensed the area they're in again and immediately detected Team 10's and Team 8's chakras once more but they were in different areas, she opened her eyes again.

"I'm sensing that all of the Teams are still in the area we're in.." Karin said.

"Which one of the Teams is closest to are location now?" Sasuke asked.

"Team 10..." Karin said.

"In which direction?" Sasuke asked.

Karin raised her left hand and pointed to the left with her index, Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, Tenten, Lee, and Sakura looked in the direction Karin pointed.

"There are that way... but.." Karin said then lowered her left hand.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked.

"I'm also sensing 5 more chakras... 3 large ones and 2 small ones.." Karin said.

"The small ones are probably children and the large ones must be adults." Sasuke.

 _"One of the 3 large chakras has large amounts of chakra... like an Uzumaki...!"_ Karin thought.

 _Flashback._

 _5 years ago._

 _"Uzushiogakure?" Karin asked._

 _"Sorry I forgot to tell you that the Uzumaki clan originally came from Uzushiogakure but we've decided to move to Konohagakure but some moved somewhere else." Uzume said. "Even our family crest is on the back of the Konoha flak jackets because we are close allies."_

 _"But why did we have to move?" Karin asked._

 _Uzume just put her hands around her daughter. "I'll tell you some other time okay sweetie." she said hugging. "You have your first day at the Academy tomorrow."_

 _"Okay, Mommy." Karin said smiling, hugging her mother back._

 _Flashback ends._

 _"I guess.. this one must have moved somewhere else like Mom explained..."_ Karin thought.

"Karin." a male voice said.

Karin was pushed out of her thoughts to see Sasuke standing next to her and looking at her and Naruto, Neji, Tenten, Lee, and Sakura were walking into the direction she pointed to recently.

"We have to go to the other teams." Sasuke said

"H-hai..." Karin said shyly.

Sasuke and Karin walked forward and started to follow Naruto, Neji, Tenten, Lee, and Sakura.

...

No more than 2 minutes, all of them stopped walking as they suddenly heard a loud crash and looked up to see smoke rising in the air.

"What was that?" Naruto asked.

"It's coming from the Village where Karin sensed them." Sasuke said.

"I now sense the 2 small chakras are underground..." Karin said sadly.

"Is it the enemy's doing?" Neji questioned. "Is Team 10 really fighting over there?"

"What's happening inside the Village, dattebayo?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke, Naruto, Neji, Karin, Tenten, Lee, and Sakura quickly ran to the nearby Village, when they made it they jumped on top of some of the house's and ran and jumped through them to get to where the smoke was at.

Karin suddenly sensed a powerful chakra up ahead. "I sense someone ahead of us.." she said.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

Suddenly a shuriken was heading towards Naruto quickly and Naruto jumped up as he dodged the shuriken.

"I think you sensed that the enemy's ahead! We have to watch out!" Sasuke yelled.

The 7 of them jumped off of one of the buildings and onto the ground and hid inside but still poked their heads out. Team 7 and Karin hid in a cement building from left to right: Sasuke, Karin, Sakura, and Naruto. The Guy hid in another building from right to left: Neji, Tenten, and Lee. The 7 of them saw a circular shaped smoke swirling around and the smoke disappeared to reveal a large dark purple orb and some dark purple fog was in it. Karin couldn't sense what was in there.

"What is that?" Lee asked.

The fog quickly disappeared and 7 of them became shocked when they saw Kakashi, Kurenai, Guy, Asuma, and some other Jonins inside of it.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled.

The 7 of them slowly stood out of the buildings.

"Kakashi..." Naruto said.

A weird voice came out of nowhere.

"Come here, if you want to save them. If you don't, I'll execute them." a man's voice said.

"Huh?" Karin said.

Sasuke held up his left hand. "Don't move!" he said, then put his left hand down.

"Guy-sensei!" Lee yelled as he tried to run over to the orb.

Tenten was holding down Lee from going anywhere.

"Calm down!" Tenten yelled.

"Don't fall for their trap!" Sasuke said, looking at Lee.

Lee stopped struggling.

Sasuke turned back to look at the orb. "We have to get word of this to Konoha as soon as possible." he said.

"Yes." Neji said. "We'll have to break up into 2 teams. One stays here, the other goes to notify the Village."

Sasuke looked at Neji. "No... there's a chance we'll be ambushed on the way." he said then looked at the orb. "We have to maintain our combat power as much as possible." he said.

 _"I don't know about that.. besides... Oniisan wouldn't agree with this.. and I would agree with him..."_ Karin thought, looking at the unconscious Jonins.

"You'll abandon your friends... to follow the rules. So the essence of Konohagakure has been passed down to its younger generation too." the unknown man voice said.

The Jonins disappeared in the orb.

Karin looked at Naruto sadly, seeing that he had a serious face on him.

"That's right. And that's how it should be. Whoever he is, that guy is trying to challenge us... and break up our strength." he said.

"I'm... I'm not like you." Naruto said.

Sasuke turned to look at Naruto. "What?" he asked.

"I'll never turn my back on them!" Naruto yelled before he ran over to orb.

Karin watched as Naruto ran over to the orb. _"Oniisan..."_ she thought.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled.

"Why that-!" Sasuke said. "Come back!"

Sasuke and Sakura tried to run after Naruto but we're suddenly blocked by Neji.

"I'll go!" Neji said before he ran after Naruto. "Take care of things here!"

"Neji!" Sasuke yelled.

Karin stepped forward a little and was now on the left side of Sasuke.

Sasuke, Lee, Karin, Tenten, and Sakura watched as Naruto and Neji jumped and disappeared into the orb before it disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"I-I don't sense... Oniisan's and Neji's chakras anymore..." Karin said sadly.

...

3 minutes later.

The 5 of them were now standing in a circle from left to right: Sasuke, Karin, Lee, Tenten, and Sakura.

"What happened to Neji and Naruto?" Lee said, folding his arms.

"What was that just now?" Tenten said.

"I couldn't sense them anymore when they went in it..." Karin said.

"It's probably some kind of time-space jutsu." Sasuke said.

"But who could use such a high level ninjutsu?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "Damn it..." he said then opened his eyes again. "Thanks to him, we have more trouble to deal with." he said.

Karin looked sadly up at the sky. _"Oniisan... I hope you and Neji are okay... please..."_ she thought.

* * *

End of Chapter 10.

Please review.

No Flames.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11.

Please review.

No Flames.

* * *

Daytime.

Sasuke, Karin, Tenten, Lee, and Sakura, in their usual outfits, were standing and looking at the direction Naruto and Neji just had disappeared.

"We can't waste anymore time." Sasuke said then turned to look at Karin, Lee, Tenten, and Sakura. "We'll return to the village immediately and report on the situation." then turned forward closing his eyes. "We can't afford anymore casualties."

"Huh?!" Karin gasped softly. "B-but no one is dead..."

"What are you saying?!" Lee questioned. "We've already lost Guy-sensei. And no, even Neji is missing! And Naruto from your team!"

Sasuke, Karin, Tenten, and Sakura looked at Lee.

"This all started because he took off on his own." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Sasuke sadly. Sakura looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke closed his eyes as he put his hands on his hips. "After I warned him not to make a move..." he said.

"We're from the class ahead of yours, so we don't know him that well... But isn't he an important friend and member of Team 7?" Lee questioned.

"Friend?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke, Karin, Tenten, and Sakura looked at Lee at what he just said.

"Not only that... He's the precious son of the Fourth Hokage." Lee said.

Sasuke turned to the right side a little, closing his eyes. "Who cares?" he said then turned around.

 _"I care about Oniisan..."_ Karin thought.

Karin, Lee, Tenten, and Sakura.

"That has nothing to do with the mission." Sasuke said.

 _"Everything doesn't have to be about the mission.. Sasuke..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Lee became angry. "How can you be so cold?! To me, Guy-sensei is a dear mentor! And Neji is a precious friend. I can't just turn my back on them!" he yelled.

Tenten grabbed Lee from behind.

"Lee, calm down!" Tenten said.

Karin looked at Lee. _"He's right..."_ she thought.

Lee looked at Tenten. "Anyway, I'm going to look for Guy-sensei, Neji, and the others!" he said. "They're bound to be somewhere nearby. So there's no way I'll stop looking and return to the village!" then started to walk with Tenten still holding onto him.

"I won't let you." Sasuke said. "We have no clue what the enemy will do, so we can't split up our fighting power. We must move together."

"Oh! Neji, Guy-sensei! I'm coming to rescue you!" Lee yelled before he ran off with Tenten.

Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura watched as Lee started to run off with Tenten, leaving behind a big puff of dirt.

"Okay, Lee! I get it! I'll help you, so please-!" Tenten yelled but was cut off.

"I'm surrounded by idiots." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Sasuke then turned forward she started to walk where Lee and Tenten were going until Sasuke called to her.

"No Karin, we must stick together." Sasuke said.

"But..." Sakura said.

Karin stopped and turned around to look at Sasuke.

"We'll figure something out." Sasuke said.

"But..." Sakura said.

Sasuke looked at Sakura. "What are you going to do?" he asked before he walked away. "Karin, let's go."

"H-hai..." Karin said before she walked away Sasuke.

Sakura glared at Karin in annoyance because of the affection Sasuke was displaying towards Karin before she walked after them.

After a few minutes of walking through the deserted town, Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura were now back in the forest. As they were walking Sasuke suddenly stopped near trees that was close to a clear grass field.

Sasuke turned around to look at Karin and Sakura. "We'll rendezvous with Team 10 and 8 here. This spot will be easy for Karin to see." he said.

"But..." Sakura said.

"Considering the time, Team 10 and 8 have probably joined up. They should come looking for us next or Karin will sense us and we'll go to them." he said then turned to look at Karin. Sasuke turned to Karin. "Karin, can you detect any of the other teams near our area again?"

"Um.. let me see.." Karin said before she closed her eyes.

"Even if it's just the 3 of us, shouldn't we head back to the village?" Sakura questioned, looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at Sakura. "Hokage-sama didn't choose us for this for this mission because of our fighting ability. He chose us merely because the younger we are, the harder it is for the enemy to use their jutsu on us." he said, holding his arms.

 _"Huh...?"_ Karin thought but still continued to look at Sasuke.

"That's why he ordered us to return to the village immediately without engaging as soon as we scoped out the situation." Sasuke said then turned around and walked a little.

"Oh." Sakura said.

"We still haven't identified the enemy and don't know how many there are, so it's bad to divide up our fighting power." Sasuke said then stopped.

Sakura walked a little towards Sasuke. "Then what about the others who went to save their teammates?" she asked.

"A Shinobi puts priority on the rules... and the orders given under the rules... We can't be swayed by compassion." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Sasuke sadly, she walked over to where Sasuke and Sakura were in the clear grass area. They stood there for a few minutes until Sakura over to a nearby log and sat on it.

Sasuke turned to Karin. "Karin, can you detect any of the other teams near our area again?" he asked.

"Um.. let me see.." Karin said before she closed her eyes.

Karin gasped in shock as she suddenly sensed an unknown chakra coming towards them. It was dark and powerful.

 _"I don't understand.. I didn't sense this chakra before... did it cover up it's chakra.. just like the last one?"_ Karin thought frightened.

"Karin." Sasuke said.

Karin was pushed out of her thoughts as as she looked to see Sasuke was looking at her. "Huh?" she asked.

"What's the matter?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm sensing another powerful and dark chakra coming towards us again..." Karin said frightened.

"Which direction is it coming from this time?" Sasuke asked.

"Over there.." Karin said, turning her head to the right.

Sasuke looked in that direction.

"It's here.." Karin said.

Suddenly rustling came from the bushes where Karin just explained. Sakura stood up from the log and looked in that direction.

"Stay back, Karin." Sasuke said to her before he jumped over to that direction and did the handsigns for the Fire Release: Phoenix Flower Technique: Rat → Tiger → Dog → Ox → Rabbit → Tiger. "Fire Style! Phoenix Flower Jutsu!" before he put his right hand on his mouth then a volley of small fireballs started shooting in that direction from his mouth.

Explosions of fire and smoke went into the air, Sasuke took his right hand from his mouth. Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura looked at the fire and smoke for a moment before they saw a brown skinned man that looked to be in his mid 50's, mostly bald except for the dark brown rows of hair and 2 hairs behind him, hutched back, a silver colored metal extendible iron tail behind him, wearing a light brown straw hat, a black cloak with some red clouds on it, which was zipped up, black sandals, black shirt, and black pants, was coming out of the fire unscaved.

 _"That's.. that's the same robes the other one had...!"_ Karin thought shocked.

"I had you pegged as a great who can't stay still and loves to show off... Oh well, I don't like to wait, so I guess we can start this." the unknown man said then stopped walking.

"Who the hell are you?" Sasuke asked.

"You can think of as a gatekeeper. I'm not letting you go any further." the unknown man said.

"Huh?" Karin gasped, scared.

Sasuke took a step backwards he pulled out 6 kunais (3 in each hand) and jumped into the air then threw them at the unknown man, reflected them with his tail. Sasuke landed on the ground in front of Karin.

"Such annoying flies. Want me to smash them with my fly swatter?" the unknown man asked before he jumped forward and swung his tail towards Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura. Sasuke quickly picked Karin up bridal style before he jumped into air with Sakura jumping after him. The unknown man retracted his tail back when it but the ground. When Sasuke and Sakura landed somewhere else Sasuke put Karin on the ground on the left side of him.

"Are you alright?" Sasuke asked worried.

"H-hai..." Karin said softly before turning to look at the unknown man.

"The tip of the tail could be poisoned!" Sakura said.

The unknown man laughed before he swung his tail at Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura again. Sasuke and Karin moved to the left and Sakura moved to the right. The unknown man retracted his tail, Sasuke and Karin jumped a few feet from the unknown man.

Sasuke turned to Karin. "Karin, run! Hide!" he yelled.

"H-hai.." Karin said before she ran and hid behind one of the trees, but poked her head out a little on the right to see.

Sasuke turned back to the unknown man before he reached into his pouch and pulled out a kunais with his left hand and held it up. The unknown man kept swinging it's tail to hit Sasuke, who immediately keeps dodging the attacks and threw his kunais at him, who reflected it easily. Sakura landed a few feet on the right side of the unknown man before she reached into her pouch with both hands and pulled out 2 kunais (1 in each hand) before she threw them at the unknown man, who immediately reflected them. The unknown man swung his tail at Sakura, who jumped away and landed a few feet behind Sasuke.

Karin watched as Sasuke and Sakura battled the unknown man.

"Don't underestimate me... If a kunai won't work..." Sasuke said before he jumped into the air then made the hand signs for the Fireball Jutsu. "Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!" then he put his right hand to his mouth and a large fire came from his mouth through the unknown man. Karin and Sakura looked up at Sasuke. When the Fireball hit the unknown man Sasuke landed back on the ground as he watched the fire. Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura looked in surprised to see the unknown man was a little different, the robe was no longer there, he was on a 4's, had a beige torpedo-shaped left arm that had so many little cylinders around it, a red giant face was on his back with yellow teeth and features, and blue eyes, the tail was coming out of the mouth.

Karin's eyes widened in shock. _"H-he... he must be a puppet...!"_ she though then she sensed the unknown man's chakra again only to find out that all of his chakra was coming from a small object with large amounts of chakra. _"Huh?!"_

The smoke and fire started to disappear.

"What the hell is he?" Sasuke asked.

"Is he human?" Sakura asked.

"Human...?" the unknown man asked. "That's so boring. I'm my own masterpiece."

The unknown man swung his tail again at Sasuke, who jumped into the air to dodge it only for him to scratch him in the left arm, ripping his left sleeve a little. Sasuke jumped back a little and immediately closing his right eye tightly as he clutched his left arm with his right arm in pain as it was turning purple, he crouched down on the ground.

"Sasuke!" Karin yelled before she moved away from one of the trees and ran towards Sasuke.

Sakura ran towards Sasuke and crouched down on the left side. "Sasuke-kun!" she yelled, touching his left arm with both hands.

Karin crouched down on the right side of Sasuke. "Sasuke!" she said.

Karin and Sakura looked at Sasuke's wound in shock. Sasuke was staring at it as well. Karin noticed that Sasuke was sweating as he panted.

 _"Oh no...! I-It's the poison...!"_ Karin thought.

"This means... the poison!" Sakura said.

Karin and Sakura saw that Sasuke was turning a sickly greyish color and under his eyes were turning light blue. The unknown man retracted his tail back. Sasuke closed both of his eyes as he leaned towards Karin and landed on her. Karin immediately held Sasuke in her arms as she looked down at him sadly.

"Please... no!" Karin said sadly, tears started forming in her eyes.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled, looking at him worriedly.

As Sakura was now glaring at the unknown man, Karin continued to look at Sasuke as he was in her arms. Karin now saw that Sasuke was turning more sickly greyish than ever.

 _"Oh no...! I-If this keeps up... Sasuke will... die..."_ Karin thought sadly and scared.

The unknown man started walking towards Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura.

Sakura gritted her teeth together before she stood up. "Karin!" she said.

"Huh?" Karin asked, looking up at Sakura.

"Do you know any medical techniques?" Sakura asked, looking at the unknown man.

"A little..." Karin said.

"Then I want you to use them to heal Sasuke-kun..." Sakura said.

Karin continued to look at Sakura.

Sakura looked down at Karin. "If you don't Sasuke-kun will die." she said.

Karin looked down at Sasuke. "I'll see what I can do him.. but what are going to do..?" she asked.

Sakura looked back at the unknown man. "I'll distract him while you heal Sasuke-kun.." she said. "Now please heal him."

"H-hai..." Karin said.

Sakura ran over to the unknown man and stopped a few feet away from him. "How dare you! How dare you do this to Sasuke-kun!" she yelled.

"You're such a pain. Do you want to die too?" the unknown man asked.

Karin laid Sasuke down on the ground carefully before she quickly stood up, walked around, and crouched down on the left side of him, she looked to see that Sasuke condition was worsening and still grunting in pain. _"Okay, I can't panic at this... I have to remember what Aunt Kushina taught me."_ she thought.

"Don't worry, Sasuke..." Karin said to him.

Karin put her right hand on Sasuke's chest and her left hand on the wound of his left arm then started to use the Mystical Palm Technique, she turned around to see Sakura was throwing multiple kunais at the unknown man and dodge his tail and needles on the ground before she turned around as she continued to heal Sasuke. After awhile Karin looked to see that some of the poison blood was coming out of Sasuke's wound and levitating towards her right hand.

 _"It's working..."_ Karin thought, sighing in relief.

As soon as all of the poison was out of Sasuke's left arm and levitating on Karin's right hand, she moved her right hand away from him. Karin immediately noticed that Sasuke was slowly turning back to his fair skin again, she suddenly sensed that the unknown man was moving away from Sakura but not from their location.

 _"Thank goodness..."_ Karin thought.

Sasuke stopped grunting in pain when his skin turned completely fair skin and he opened his eyes, he gasped a little. Karin stopped doing the Mystical Palm Technique on Sasuke's chest as she removed her left hand from it but still used the technique to keep the poison in her right hand as she removed it away from his left arm.

"I removed all of the poison from your arm... Are you feeling better, Sasuke...?" Karin asked.

Sasuke looked at Karin. "Yeah.. in a little while... thank you, Karin for saving my life..." he said.

"It was nothing.. I'm just glad you're okay..." Karin said shyly. "Y-you should rest a little... even though the poison is removed from your arm... it's going to take a while for you to fight again... but I still need to heal you.."

"I see..." Sasuke said before he closed his eyes again.

Karin suddenly heard Sakura coming towards them, she turned around to see Sakura running.

"Is Sasuke-kun alright?!" Sakura asked as she made it and crouched down next to him on his right side.

"Hai.. but he'll need to rest for a little while... I just need to heal him a little longer.." Karin said.

"Good.." Sakura said, relieved.

 _"I will need to show this to Uncle Minato when we get back.."_ Karin thought, looking at the levitating poison.

Karin reached into her pouch with her left hand and pulled out a small beige jar opened it up with her left thumb and carefully placed the poison in with her right hand and closed it tight before putting the jar back in her pouch. Karin placed both of her hands on Sasuke's chest before she did the Mystical Palm Technique again.

 _"I just hope that man would go away soon...!"_ Karin thought.

After 9 minutes Karin started to sense Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Lee, Tenten, Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata heading to their location. Karin and Sakura saw that Sasuke was opening his eyes again, Karin stopped doing the Mystical Palm Technique as she removed her hands from his as she suddenly sensed the unknown man was coming back. They suddenly heard rustling in the bushes again before the unknown man came out again and his left arm was missing. Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura slowly stood up as they faced the unknown man.

"I was distracting him while Karin healed you... my weapons had no effect." Karin said.

"There is a limit to life. But, art is forever. Do you want to see... my everlasting army? Every one of them is truly valuable of art that will surpass life." the unknown man said before a hundred puppets started coming out of the red giant mask's mouth. "Secret Red Move: Performance of a Hundred Puppets!"

Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura looked up at all of the puppets in the air. The unknown man removed the cloth from his mouth with his right hand before he opened it and many chakra threads and attached themselves to the puppets. The puppets were now assembled on the ground, the were beige and were wearing red cloaks and had weapons on them.

"All these puppets... This is impossible..." Sakura said.

Karin turned to the right as she sensed that Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Lee, Tenten, Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata were getting close rapidly.

 _"Good... they're here..."_ Karin thought relieved before she looked at the unknown man again.

"Now, what are you going to do? Are you going to fight each of my 100 pieces of art? Or will you just cower in fear?" the unknown man asked. "I will let you decide."

Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura didn't say anything. Karin looked over at Sasuke and Sakura, who had troubled looks on their faces.

"They're here.." Karin said.

Sasuke looked at Karin. "Who's here?" he asked.

"The teams..." Karin said, pointed pointed to the right with her right hand.

Sasuke and Sakura looked in the direction Karin pointed to see Akamaru popped out of the bushes and barked before Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, Lee, Tenten, Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, and Hinata, in their usual outfits, started coming out of the bushes. Karin lowered her right hand.

"Everyone!" Sakura said smiling.

Karin saw Sasuke smiling at the teams.

Most of them looked at all of the puppets with serious faces except Karin, who looked at them sadly.

"What's going on?" Shikamaru asked.

"Are they puppets?" Shino asked.

"Yeah, a hundred of them." Sasuke said.

Karin saw Sasuke look at all of them before he looked back at the puppets. _"I wonder what... you're thinking Sasuke...?"_ she thought.

Shikamaru looked at Sasuke. "What happened here?" he asked.

"A puppet user brought them out to create a blockade." Sasuke said.

"A blockade? Where's the puppet user?" Shikamaru asked.

"He's watching to see what our next move will be." Sasuke said.

"Sasuke, what did you first intend on doing?" Shikamaru asked.

"If we want Lord Fourth to conduct a rescue mission, we have to return quickly to the village and report back to him." Sasuke said.

Tenten folded her arms. "But if we bring down all 100 puppets here, we can get out of here." she said.

Ino looked at Tenten. "You sure make it sound easy." she said.

"But it's not impossible... right?" Kiba asked.

"Of we're going to complete our mission, we have no other choice." Sasuke said.

 _"B-but... there has to be another way... besides we can't leave Oniisan and Neji.. and the Jonins..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Kiba stepped forward a little. "Wait! We're not going back to the village! We're not giving up on rescuing the team captains." he said.

Sasuke looked at Kiba on the right, serious. "You plan on abandoning the mission?" he asked.

 _"There are more important things than completing the mission, Sasuke..."_ Karin thought sadly.

"No, that's not it. That's because there's also the option of breaking into 2 teams: one to look for the captains and one to report back to the village." Shino said.

"No... I also think we should stick together and work as one team." Shikamaru said.

"What? Shikamaru! What the hell are you-?!" Kiba yelled, raising his right fist but was cut off.

"In the beginning, I agreed that we should break up into 2 groups. But a lot of time has passed." Shikamaru said, looking at Kiba. "We should keep into account that the longer time passes, the less successful our chances of finding Asuma and the others will be."

Everyone looked at Shikamaru.

 _"What should we do...?"_ Karin thought.

"Put simply, we don't have time to return to the Konohagakure." Shino said.

"Not to mention, if we fight all of those puppets, we'll exhaust all our time." Shikamaru said, looking at Sasuke.

Karin saw Sasuke look down at the ground before he closed his eyes for a moment. _"Sasuke..."_ she thought.

"Well, Sasuke? Will you come with us?" Shikamaru asked.

Karin noticed that Sasuke was clutched his hands into fists.

"I'm not coming with you. I'll do things my way, on my own." Sasuke said seriously, opening his eyes.

Karin's eyes widened as she saw Sasuke had activated his Sharingan, his left eye having 1 tomoe and his right eye having 2 tomoe. She started to remember the past.

* * *

 _Flashback._

 _4 years ago._

 _Karin, in her old usual outfit, suddenly opened her eyes as she sensed Sasuke was coming back to her location and Itachi was leaving the village. She looked to the location where Sasuke was coming from to see that he was slowly walking back with his eyes closed. She noticed immediately that something was wrong with Sasuke, in his old usual outfit, his clothes were slightly more dirtier, he was panting while holding his left arm, and his chakra had decreased._

 _"W-what did.. what did Itachi do to him..?" Karin thought._

 _When Sasuke made it over to Karin, he crouched down in front of her._

 _"S-sasuke.. are you alright?" Karin asked worried._

 _Sasuke smiled softly. "I'm fine.. I'm just glad you're alright." he said opening his eyes._

 _Karin's eyes widened as she gasped in shock as she looked into Sasuke's eyes, they were black and red. "S-sasuke... your eyes." she whispered._

 _The design of Sasuke's eyes were mostly red with a small black dot and one tomoe in each one of his eyes._

 _"Huh, my eyes?" Sasuke asked, confused._

 _"I think.. you've activated your Sharingan..." Karin said._

 _Sasuke raised his left hand and was about to touch the upper part of his face until he closed his eyes as he grunted in pain._

 _"Sasuke!" Karin said worriedly._

 _Sasuke continued to grunt in pain then seconds later he fainted and his landed on Karin. Karin grabbed him and softly hugged Sasuke's unconscious body._

 _"Sasuke... Sasuke, please wake up..." Karin said, shaking him a little._

 _Sasuke was still conscious. Karin closed her eyes and started to cry again._

 _"Why... why are these things happening...?" Karin thought._

 _Flashback ends._

* * *

Karin continued to look at Sasuke. _"After all these years... Sasuke awakened his Sharingan.. since that day..."_ she thought.

Everyone watched as Sasuke threw a smoke bomb at the puppets with his right hand before it burst into a large puff of white smoke. Sasuke quickly ran at the puppets.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled.

Everyone watched as Sasuke ran into the large puff of smoke.

 _"Please be careful this time... Sasuke..."_ Karin thought sadly.

"He created a blind spot for the puppet user!" Shikamaru said.

"That was so reckless!" Kiba said.

Karin saw Sasuke make the hand signs for the Fireball Jutsu while he ran.

"Fire Style! Fireball Jutsu!" Sasuke yelled, putting his left hand to his mouth before a large fire came from his mouth and burned some of the puppets.

Everyone saw Sasuke jumped backwards as some of the puppets were coming towards him and he kicked one of them with his right leg and dodged some of their attacks and he turned around as he pulled out a kunai from his pouch with his right hand.

 _"Amazing... I just healed Sasuke awhile and he's stronger than ever...! And Sharingan he activated is helping him..."_ Karin thought astounded.

Karin saw that the puppets were heading towards Sasuke and watched as he fought them, she quickly became worried and scared when she saw one of them pushed him on the ground and more were heading towards him.

 _"Oh no... Sasuke...!"_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin sensed Lee near Sasuke, she saw him kick the puppet that was about to attack, destroying the puppet. Lee landed on the ground next to Sasuke.

"Even if our goals differ, we can't ignore our friends!" Lee yelled before he ran off to attack another puppet.

 _"Thank you, Lee... for saving Sasuke..."_ Karin thought relieved.

Everyone watched as Lee attacked some of the puppets. Sasuke unactivated his Sharingan as they turned back into their onyx black eyes.

"Everyone, follow Lee!" Shikamaru said.

Everyone except Karin ran and attacked the puppets. Karin looked at the puppets sadly before she closed her eyes.

 _"I... I can't...!"_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin ran and hid behind one of the trees, but poked her head out a little on the right to see the others fight. She saw Shino use his insects on the puppets, Choji used the human Boulder Jutsu, Sakura use her kunais and shurikens, Kiba and Akamaru used the Fang Over Fang, Hinata used Gentle Fist, Tenten used her scrolls, Ino fighting with kunai in her right hand, Sasuke fighting with a kunai in his right hand, and Shikamaru fighting with a kunai in his left hand.

 _"All of them are fighting the puppets.. they're brave... unlike me..."_ Karin thought sadly.

"Sasuke! I hope you didn't charge at the puppets by yourself, because you knew full well that we don't leave our friends behind..." Shikamaru said.

Karin saw Sasuke turned his head to the right and smirked.

2 minutes later.

Karin saw everyone continued attacking the puppets before she saw the unknown man going up in the air.

"It's pretty obvious... There's no future for Shinobi. There is only... hell. Let me show you an artistic and eternal hell!" the unknown man said before released more puppets.

"Damn it! He had spare puppets!" Shikamaru said.

Everyone looked at all of the new puppets in shock and horror. When the started heading towards them they all started fighting them again. Karin watched them all fight.

1 minute later.

Karin gasped and turned around as she suddenly sensed Naruto 30 feet behind her.

 _"O-oniisan...! He's back... thank goodness he's alive..."_ Karin thought.

Karin waited awhile for Naruto to come to their location and she saw him, in his usual outfit, was running towards her.

"Oniisan!" Karin said before she ran over to him.

Naruto stopped. "Hey, Karin!" he said smiling.

Karin hugged Naruto. "I missed you Oniisan.." she said.

Naruto hugged Karin back. "I missed you too."he said.

Karin pulled back to look at Naruto. "Where's Neji?" she asked.

"He went off with this guy in a mask." Naruto said.

"Huh?" Karin asked confused.

"I'll explain later, right now I need to defeat those puppets. Stay hidden." Naruto said before he ran towards puppets and jumped up into the air. Karin ran and hid behind the tree she was previously hiding behind and poked her head out to see.

"Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" Naruto yelled.

Everyone looked up at Naruto, seeing dozens of his clones in the air. Karin noticed that half of the clones were hold small blue circular spheres that were spinning in their right hands while the other half helped them.

 _"Is that the Rasengan Uncle Minato has been teaching Oniisan?"_ Karin thought.

What is that?!" Ino asked.

"Look at the chakra!" Choji said.

"That Jutsu... It's the Rasengan!" Shikamaru said.

"Impossible! That's because that Jutsu is..." Shino said.

"Naruto's amazing!" Hinata said smiling.

Everyone watched as all of the puppets came at Naruto and his clones.

"Here I go! Rasengan!" Naruto yelled.

Naruto and his clones hit them with the Rasengan, explosions were everywhere in the air, smoke started appearing. The wind was very strong.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

A lot of puppets started falling from the air.

"Next one... Let's go!" Naruto yelled before the clones landed on the ground and started running to more of the puppets. "Here we go! Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu!" making more clones.

Explosions went everywhere on the ground.

"Naruto?!" Sakura asked.

 _"Oniisan... you're so strong!"_ Karin thought.

Explosions cleared to see Naruto and his clones standing over the defeated puppets and some were kicking them. All of them heard rustling in the bushes to see the unknown man coming out from the bushes.

"Damn you... You ruined my art!" the unknown man said.

"Are you the Puppet User?!" Naruto asked, some of his clones behind him.

The unknown man grabbed one of the puppets with his tail before it let out a large puff of white smoke. Karin sense the unknown man was moving away quickly from their location now.

"Damn it!" Naruto said.

Naruto turned around as all of his started to disappear.

"He got away..." Naruto said.

Karin stepped away from the tree and walked over to them.

Sakura walked up to Naruto. "That was amazing, Naruto!" she said smiling.

"Taking down all of those puppets, by yourself." Shikamaru said smiling.

"I think I might have underestimated you all this time." Lee said smiling.

"Yeah! You were hiding some amazing power!" Tenten said smiling.

"That power has to be acknowledged. That's because, everyone had a tough time with the enemy, but you came and took them down by yourself." Shino said.

"As one would expect of Naruto!" Hinata said smiling.

"I was totally surprised!" Ino said smiling, her arms crossed.

"They say skilled hawks hide their talons..." Choji said.

"I hate to admit it, but this is the one time I have to acknowledge him." Kiba said.

Akamaru barked.

"That was amazing, Oniisan..." Karin said smiling softly.

Karin turned around to see Sasuke folding his arms and closed his eyes.

"But the way, Naruto... We're going to save our friends. It will be mean disobeying the rules of the village... But that's what we all want." Shikamaru said.

"Yeah... Of course, I feel the same way." Naruto said.

"What will you do, Sasuke?!" Shikamaru asked turning to him. "With this much fighting strength, you can't say rescuing our friends is impossible."

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Sasuke, come with us, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled.

"Please... Sasuke..." Karin said.

Sasuke looked at Naruto then at Karin. "Fine.." he said.

Karin smiled at Sasuke.

"All right! It's decided!" Naruto yelled smiling.

"Everyone, you heard it! We've joined up. We're going to rescue Asuma and... no, we're going to find our friends and rescue them!" Shikamaru said.

Karin suddenly sensed Neji in the area now.

"All right!" Everyone except Sasuke, Karin, and Shikamaru yelled.

"You got that, everyone? We're joining up as one team to look for, I mean our friends, and rescue them!" Shikamaru said.

"Right!" Everyone except Sasuke, Karin, and Shikamaru yelled.

"All right, let's get going, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled before he ran off.

Karin looked at Naruto run.

"Hold it, Naruto." Shikamaru said.

Naruto stopped and looked at Shikamaru. "What is it? You're the one who said we're going to rescue our friends!" he said.

"Yeah, I did. But we don't even know where they are." Shikamaru said.

"Not even one clue..." Ino said, putting her right index on her chin.

"Unless, Naruto, you have intel that we don't." Lee said.

"Yeah, yeah!" Tenten said.

"You think I'd have have that kind of intel?" Naruto asked.

"Huh?" Everyone except Sasuke and Karin asked.

Karin saw Sasuke smirk.

"Your fighting skills may've improved slightly, but your brain's still the same." Sasuke said, his eyes closed.

Karin saw Naruto ran up to Sasuke.

"What?!" Naruto yelled.

"Hey! Stop fighting!" Sakura yelled.

 _"Please don't fight..."_ Karin thought then she sensed Neji coming their way.

"I sense Neji coming towards..." Karin said shyly.

"What?!" Kiba asked.

Hinata turned on her Byakugan. "Karin's right.." she said.

Karin stood in the direction Neji was appearing, which was right beside Shikamaru. Everyone turned to Neji.

"Neji-niisan, I'm glad you're safe." Hinata said, putting her right hand close to her chest.

"Sorry to have worried you." Neji said.

Naruto ran a little closer then stopped. "What happened to the enemy? Did you bring him down?" he asked.

"No." Neji said.

"You let him get away?" Naruto asked.

"No, that's not it, but..." Neji said.

"Then what happened, dattebayo?" Naruto asked.

"Naruto! Give Neji a chance to speak." Shikamaru said.

"Damn it." Sasuke said.

 _"Oniisan really wants to look for the Jonins more than us..."_ Karin thought.

"Oh, okay..." Naruto said.

"So? What's going on, Neji?" Shikamaru asked, looking at him.

...

15 minutes later.

"Anyway, that's it." Neji said.

"So you're saying everything that happened was just an experiment by this masked man?" Shikamaru questioned.

 _"I... I never even thought it was a test after some of us almost died..."_ Karin thought, thinking about Sasuke and Naruto.

"Hold on! Guy-sensei and the others are safe?" Lee asked.

"Yeah. He promised he'd free all the hostages and lead us to them." Neji said.

 _"Are you sure?"_ Karin thought.

"Lead us to them?" Sakura questioned.

"What does that mean?" Naruto asked.

Karin suddenly sensed the 3 chakras from earlier coming quickly to their location. After a minute has passed Karin started to speak.

"The 3 chakras are here..." Karin said.

"Huh? What 3 chakras?" Naruto asked confused.

Suddenly the 3 chakras appeared where Neji and Shikamaru were, who immediately jumped away, everyone looked at them. The one on the right and first one was a man that looked to be in his late 20's, had short spiky orange hair, brown eyes, fair skin, wearing the black Amegakure forehead protector on his forehead, a long black robe with a red line running down the centre along with armour that covered only his mid-section with a pouch attached to it, a relatively large sword, white short sleeved shirt, long black pants, and black sandals. The second and middle one was a woman that looked to be in her late 20's, had fair skin, short, straight blue hair, amber eyes, lavender eye shadow, wearing a large light blue paper flower in her hair, navy blue robe, with a large hemline on the front, and exposed her arms, her back, the lateral part of her breast and her belly, black Amegakure forehead protector, a black cloak with purple stockings and high heels, as well as a mid section guard. The 3 and last one was a man that looked to be in his late 20's, pale white skin, short straight red hair that covered his right eye, lavender ripple pattern eyes that spreads over the eyeballs, wearing the black Amegakure forehead protector, grey short sleeved shirt, a long black robe with a red line running down the centre along with armour that covered only his mid-section with a pouch attached to it, and long black pants.

Everyone except Karin, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji looked at them cautiously. Karin looked at the red haired man in shock and amazement.

 _"He's... he's the powerful chakra I sensed earlier... Is he really... an Uzumaki...?!"_ Karin thought.

"Who the hell are you guys?!" Naruto asked yelling.

"We're not your enemy." the blue haired woman said.

"First of all, we want to show you a sign of mutual trust. We apologize for getting you involved in our employer's test." the orange haired man said.

"The test is over. Your friends will be be freed." the red haired man said.

"Are you serious?" Naruto asked.

"We are Hidden Rain Shinobi. We travel around the land in search of those who share our vision for the future of the Shinobi world. We're Team Jiraiya." the orange haired man said.

"Team Jiraiya?! You guys know Pervy Sage?" Naruto asked.

"Yes. He saved our lives and he was our ninjutsu master." the red haired man said.

"I get it now. When we were attacked, I didn't sense any malice. Because it was a test."Shikamaru said. "So, did we pass the test?"

"I believe so. That's why we're telling you where your friends are." the red haired man said then turned to the blue haired woman. "Konan."

Paper started coming from Konan's body and into the air and started from paper butterflies to Shinobi Ageha Butterflies.

"Shinobi Ageha Butterflies..." Naruto said.

"The butterflies will guide to your friends." Konan said.

"We must go return to the villagers to their homes. So we'll be leaving." the orange haired man said.

"Hold on please..." Karin said.

The orange haired man, Konan, and the red haired man looked at Karin confused. Karin quickly walked over to them and stared up at the red haired man closely.

"Are you... an Uzumaki?" Karin asked curiously.

"Yes..." the red haired man said.

"I'm from the Uzumaki clan as well..." Karin said shyly.

"Wait, you are?!" the red haired man asked surprised.

"It's nice to meet one from another area..." Karin said smiling softly.

The red haired man was about to say something to Karin when the orange haired man spoke.

"Nagato we must help the villagers." the orange haired man said.

"Hai." Nagato said.

The orange haired man, Konan, and Nagato disappeared. Karin gasped in confused as she sensed them moving away from their location.

"Hold it." Naruto said, holding up his right hand. "Damn it! I wanted to hear more about Pervy Sage." putting his right hand down.

Everyone looked at the Shinobi Ageha Butterflies in the air.

"So we just follow them...?" Naruto questioned before he ran after them.

"Neji-niisan..." Hinata said, looking at him.

Everyone ran after the Shinobi Ageha Butterflies as well.

* * *

Night time.

Everyone was walking on a clear dirt path with wild growing grass everywhere. Karin suddenly sensed the Shinobi Ageha Butterflies and also the Jonins, she looked to see they're near a house.

"They're over there..." Karin said, pointing with her left index finger at the house.

"That structure, huh?" Neji questioned.

Karin put her left hand down. Everyone stared at the house.

"All right! Let's go save everyone, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled before he ran towards the house.

"Wait! There could be traps-" Shikamaru said but was cut off when Naruto continued to run.

 _"Oniisan.. does want to rescue them..."_ Karin thought.

He's not even listening." Sakura said.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "Damn it." he said.

...

3 minutes later.

Everyone arrived at the shoji doors of the house, Naruto slid one of them open with his right hand to reveal all of Jonins, in their usual outfits, tied up.

"Everyone!" Naruto yelled.

Naruto, Shikamaru, Tenten, and Shino cut the ropes off of them.

"This is embarrassing." Kakashi said.

Karin stood near a wall by herself, looking around the room as most of the genins interacted with their Jonins, she first looked at Team Guy.

"Guy-sensei, I'm glad you're okay." Lee said.

Guy hugged Lee. "Oh! I'm super-overcome with emotion! To be rescued by my pupil is more than I ever deserve..." he said crying. "Ouch!"

Tenten put a bandage on Guy's left cheek with her right hand.

"Can you be a little gentler?" Guy yelled, looking at Tenten.

"But it's just a scratch." Tenten said smiling, making the peace sign with her right hand.

Karin then looked at Team 10.

"Asuma..." Shikamaru said.

"Are you hurt anywhere?" Choji asked.

"No... Sorry we made you worry." Asuma said smiling.

"I'm so relieved." Ino said.

Karin walked towards the groups and stopped next to Sasuke.

"Anyway, what was this incident all about anyway?" Kakashi asked.

"Are you guys able to explain it to us?" Kurenai said.

Karin suddenly sensed an unknown chakra appearing. _"Oh no...!"_ she thought.

"Y-yeah." Shikamaru said.

"Allow me to explain." an unknown man voice said.

Everyone looked to the right where they heard the voice and saw a man wearing a black kimono like shirt, long black pants, white bandages on his chest, arms, legs, and face, black gloves, a white crane mask, and black sandals, was coming out of a large dark purple orb then walked forward as it disappeared.

Everyone except Karin had their guards up. Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, Kiba, and Sakura pulled out their kunais with their right hands from their pouches. Sasuke stepped in front of Karin protectively. Neji stepped up to the masked man.

"Wait. He's no longer our enemy! It's all right." Neji said, standing on the right side of him.

Karin sensed that the masked man was half alive and half dead. _"What... what is he..?"_ she thought.

A few seconds later.

"Okay, then." Naruto said, lowering his right hand.

The masked man put his right hand on his mask and took it off, mostly everyone gasped in surprise.

"No way... You're-" Kakashi said.

The masked man took off all of his bandages and laid them on the floor next, the man's face looked to be in his early 30's and had a green 'X' on it with 1 curved line on each side of it, long dark brown hair that reached his mid back, featureless lavender eyes and the outer eyes were black.

"You're... Hizashi Hyuga..." Kakashi said surprised.

"Impossible... you're supposed to have died when I was 3 years old..." Hinata said.

"Huh?" Karin asked surprised.

"What?" Naruto asked confused.

"Well, let me explain that part." Neji said.

"Neji-niisan..." Hinata said.

"When Lady Hinata was 3 years old, a major crisis hit Konohagakure." Neji said.

 _"What.. happened..?"_ Karin thought.

"Shinobi from the Kumogakure attempted to kidnap you... but Hiashi-sama killed them." Neji said.

"Kumogakure was at fault." Hinata said.

"Naturally, relations became strained and the threat of war loomed. In order to prevent fighting, Konohagakure secretly negotiated with Kumogakure and accepted their conditions. Rather, they had no choice but to accept." Neji said.

"What was the condition?" Naruto asked.

"The head of the Hyuga who possessed the Kekkei Genkai, the Byakugan." Neji said. "In other words, they demanded Konoha hand over the corpse of Hinata-sama's father, Hiashi Hyuga. And so, Hiashi Hyuga's younger twin, my father Hizashi Hyuga became his stand-in... and peace in the village was maintained." Neji said. "As for my father's decision and the circumstances behind that, you saw it yourself, Naruto."

Karin looked at Naruto confused. "Huh?" she asked then looked forward again.

"The terrible system of the Curse Mark that's been passed down within the Hyuga to protect the Main Family. We are alive, but are unable to change the currents of fate. What you saw was my father, who by his own will, chose to defy his fate." Neji said, looking up at his father.

 _"It must be.. really hard and complicated to be a Hyuga..."_ Karin thought.

"Kakashi... This has caused everyone much stress." Hizashi said.

"You're supposed to be dead, so how-?" Kakashi said.

"At first, I didn't understand either." Hizashi said then turned around. "But after a long slumber, I awakened... and found myself within a certain man's hideout."

...

15 minutes later.

Hizashi explained everything that happened when he was revived. They put their kunais away.

 _"Who is powerful to do that...?"_ Karin thought.

"Perhaps that man was right. I did feel that way at the time." Hizashi said then turned back around.

"That is why I planned this incident. I hoped that my death was not in vain... That my death would provide the impetus... for Konohagakure to rethink the cruel rules and destinies which took away my life... Well, all that doesn't matter anymore. I'm a man who should not exist in this world. However, it seems I cannot undo this jutsu myself. I want you to return to the village and look into how to release this jutsu. But before that..." Hizashi said then turned to HDMI. "I would like to speak with my son Neji, alone."

...

1 minute later.

Everyone was standing outside as Hizashi and Neji were talking alone in the house. Karin noticed Naruto peaking his head on the opened shoji doors.

"Oniisan... please stop it... It's rude listening to their conversation..." Karin said sadly.

Naruto looked at Karin. "Don't worry, I'm just looking dattebayo." he said before looked back inside the house again.

Karin closed her eyes as she sighed sadly. _"Why does Oniisan does this sometimes...?"_ she thought.

"Karin?" a boy's voice said.

Karin turned around to see Sasuke walking towards her.

"Oh, hello... Sasuke..." Karin said shyly.

Sasuke stopped in front of Karin. "What did you say to him?" he asked.

"Huh?" Karin asked confused.

"What did asked the red haired man early?" Sasuke asked.

"Um, w-well I him if he was an Uzumaki just like me..." Karin said.

"So what did he say?" Sasuke asked.

"He said he was one..." Karin said.

Sasuke and Karin suddenly heard a help and quick movement and they looked to see Naruto has stopped looking inside and leaning away from the door.

"Usuratonkachi." Sasuke said annoyed.

 _"I that was going to happen soon..."_ Karin thought.

Sasuke looked back at Karin. "How did you know he was an Uzumaki?" he asked.

Karin turned and looked back at Sasuke. "I sensed he has this large amount of chakra like one and his hair was red..." she said.

Sasuke and Karin talked for awhile until they saw a bright white light coming from inside the house. Everyone stopped what they were doing to see the light.

 _"What's... what's happening...?"_ Karin thought.

"Seems like we don't need to find a way to release the jutsu." Kakashi said.

"Yeah." Guy said.

Everyone looked to see Hizashi glowing.

Karin sensed Hizashi's chakra fading quickly as the deceased. _"His chakra is vanishing..."_ she thought.

Everyone saw Hizashi smile and said something to Neji before he disappeared in sparkles of light and and Neji stand up and tried to catch him then he stopped as he looked up into the sky, seeing a glowing white hawk shed a few feathers before disappearing. Karin looked at Neji as he sat back down.

 _"I know what it's like losing your parents..."_ Karin thought sadly.

A few minutes later.

Everyone watched as Guy and Naruto walked inside of the house and Guy put his left hand on Neji's right shoulder. Neji turned to the right to see Guy staring down at him.

"Guy..." Neji said.

Guy took his left hand off of Neji's right shoulder. "It seems Hizashi's greatest regret was not being able to guide you into adulthood." he said.

Neji looked down at the floor, wiping his eyes with his right hand and he saw a single white sparkle landed in his right hand, he made it into a fist when it faded away.

"Hai." Neji said.

* * *

10 minutes later.

Everyone was walking on a clear dirt path with wild growing grass everywhere again.

"All right! Let's hurry home, so I can report to Dad, dattebayo." Naruto said, walking in front of everyone.

Lee started to walk up to Naruto. "All right then, let's face back to the village." he said.

"I won't lose!" Naruto said before he started to speed up.

"Neither will I!" Lee yelled.

"I said I'm not gonna lose, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled.

"Same here!" Lee yelled.

"Me!" Naruto yelled.

"Where does all that energy come from?" Sakura said.

"Really..." Ino said.

"Hey, wait!" Kakashi yelled.

Everyone except Naruto and Lee stopped and turned around to Kakashi, Kurenai, Guy standing a few feet behind them.

"My body's still not..." Guy said.

"W-why don't we just rest a bit?" Kurenai said.

"Oh boy..." Kakashi said.

Karin's eyes widened as she suddenly sensed chakra decreasing, she turned to the right where the village was located. _"Oh no...!"_ she thought.

Everyone turned as looked to see a huge yellow-orange bright light on the right and suddenly a huge explosion came from the village, destroying many houses and trees. Karin looked at sadly as she sensed many chakras vanishing. Wind blowed furiously at them as they looked in shock. Fire and smoke was everywhere.

 _"Who... who could do such a thing...?!"_ Karin thought sadly.

"What? What is going on, dattebayo?" Naruto asked.

* * *

Day time.

Hokage's Office.

Minato, in his usual outfit, was sitting at his desk while Hiruzen in his usual outfit was standing beside him on his left side. Standing a few feet from the desk from left to right stood: Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, Karin, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Hinata, Kina, Shino, Tenten, Lee, and Neji. Standing behind the genins we're: Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Guy.

"Thanks to your efforts, the mission was successful. Good job!" Minato said then closed his eyes. "Is what I'd like to say..." then opened his eyes again. "But that's not quite the case, is it?"

Mostly everyone looked sad.

 _"I still can't believe... that the village is destroyed... so many people died..."_ Karin thought sadly.

"I'm very sorry. I'm the one who disobeyed orders first. Please punish me as you see fit." Neji said.

Lee looked at Neji. "Neji, you aren't the only one at fault." he said.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at Neji.

"He's right, dattebayo! If you put it like that, I was the first... but... we had no choice at the time." Naruto said then he looked down at the floor.

Karin looked at Naruto sadly. _"Oniisan..."_ she thought.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "But breaking the rules is breaking the rules." he said.

"But-!" Naruto yelled.

Naruto got angry and was about to attack Sasuke until Kakashi put his left hand on Naruto's right shoulder.

"Hey, this isn't the place to argue." Kakashi said then took his left hand off of Naruto's right shoulder. "There's no doubt they may have acted carelessly. But their cleverness saved us. That's a fact. Please go easy on them."

Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Guy bowed their heads.

All of the genins looked at Minato, waiting for him to answer.

Minato stood up from his seat. "Well, since you put it like that... Disobeying orders cannot be overlooked. But there are special circumstances in all missions." he said.

Kakashi, Asuma, Kurenai, and Guy stopped bowing their heads.

"Decisions must be made depending on the situation at hand, and you must make the best possible choice. In this case, everyone joined together to make the mission a success. That has to be factored into the evaluation." Minato said then smiled.

 _"H-huh?"_ Karin thought.

"Lord Fourth, does that mean...?" Sakura asked smiling, putting left hand close to her chest.

Most of them looked at Minato in shock.

"That no one is at fault... I suppose." Hiruzen said.

Naruto raised his right fist in the air, smiling. "Yes!" he yelled. "Way to go, dattebayo!"

Everyone except Sasuke and Karin were smiling and cheering. Karin was concerned and sad about everything that happened on the mission.

"You're all dismissed." Minato said, sitting back down in his chair.

Everyone started to leave.

"Karin I need to have a word with you." Minato said.

"Oh, okay... Uncle Minato..." Karin said as she stood where she was.

As soon as everyone had left, Minato and Karin were the only ones in the room now.

"Karin you served as a temporary member in Team 7 until your team is back from it's mission." Minato said.

"H-hai..." Karin said.

"They're returning from their mission and starting tomorrow you'll be assigned back to Team 9." Minato said.

Karin felt as if her heart has stopped, she became scared because she didn't want to leave Team 7 and she doesn't want to deal with their Jonin, Zosui anymore who scares and verbally abuses her.

"Oh, I almost forgot..." Karin said smiling sadly then reached into her pouch with her right hand and pulled out the jar. "Here..."

Minato stood up from his seat again. "What is it?" he asked, walking over to her on the right side.

"It's the poison that the enemy tried to kill Sasuke with when I removed it from his body..." Karin said. "I was hoping that someone can study it for a cure just in case something happens again..."

Minato stood in front of Karin and looked down at the jar before he grabbed it with his left hand. "I'll assign someone to research." he said. "You did well."

"Hai." Karin said.

...

5 minutes later.

Karin stepped out of the Hokage's Office and closed the door behind her with her right hand and looked to see Sasuke and Naruto standing a few feet away and looking at her.

"Oniisan... Sasuke..." Karin said.

"We all need to talk." Naruto said.

"Huh...?" Karin asked confused.

...

7 minutes later.

At some of the wooden fences near a few of the buildings and trees. Standing in a circle from left to right was: Naruto, Kiba (Akamaru in his jacket), Choji, Ino, Shino, Tenten, Lee, Neji, Shikamaru, Hinata, Sakura, Sasuke, and Karin.

"I thought he was gonna give it to us!" Kiba said.

"I guess Hokage-sama has a soft spot for family members." Sasuke said.

Naruto looked at Sasuke annoyed. "Are you still stuck on that?" he questioned.

Karin stared at Sasuke sadly before she looked down at the ground.

"I still don't acknowledge you." Sasuke said, looking at Naruto.

"Let it go already. We got off easy and it's over." Kiba said, smiling.

"Still, Naruto, you were amazing." Choji said smiling.

"Yeah, I see you in a different light now." Ino said smiling, her hands behind her back.

"Yes, you really trained hard, Naruto-kun." Hinata said smiling, blushing a little as she put her left hand near her neck.

Naruto put both of hands behind his head, smiling. "Well, yeah, I guess." he said laughing.

"Anyway, let's go get something to eat and talk about it!" Kiba said, raising his left fist.

"So ridiculous." Sasuke said.

Karin walked passed Naruto without saying a word, everyone looked at her.

"Hey, Karin!" Naruto yelled.

Karin was too deep in thought to hear Naruto then she turned a corner on the right, Sasuke walked after her.

"Wait up!" Naruto yelled before ran after them.

"Hey, are they're leaving?" Ino questioned sadly, her hands near her chest.

"I'm sure they'll be back soon." Choji said.

As Karin continued to walk she remembered something that Zosui said to her.

 _"Useless... You're only good for healing... You are the weakest..." Zosui said._

Karin felt tears welling up in her eyes, she was pushed out of her thoughts when she felt a hand on her right shoulder she stopped and turned her head to the right to see Sasuke with his left hand on her right shoulder.

"Sasuke..." Karin said turning towards him as he released his left hand from her right shoulder.

"Karin, what's the matter?" Sasuke asked worried.

Karin suddenly saw Naruto running towards her and Sasuke.

"Oniisan..." Karin said.

"What's wrong, Karin?" Naruto asked, stopping in front of her. "You've been been acting sad since Dad talked to you about."

Karin looked at Sasuke and Naruto before she stared down at the ground. "Uncle Minato said that this is my last day of being a temporary member of Team 7..." she said.

Sasuke and Naruto looked at Karin shocked.

"My team is returning back tomorrow..." Karin said then looked at them, smiling sadly. "... I-It was nice working with all 4 of you... but I have to get back to my team..."

"I'm sorry about that, I wish you could have a little more time to be with us.." Naruto said sadly.

"We're going to miss you being on Team 7... you were really great we couldn't have done our missions without you." Sasuke said.

Karin blushed furiously and her eyes widened at what Sasuke just said. "I-I-It w-was n-nothing.. besides you guys did all of the work... I didn't do anything..." she said shyly.

"That's not true you healed us and detected our allies and enemies miles away, we couldn't do that, dattebayo!" Naruto said smiling.

Karin's blush lessened and her eyes stopped widened.

"Since it's your last day on Team 7 how about we go to the Dango Shop?" Naruto asked.

Karin looked at Naruto then at Sasuke, who was smiling softly at her.

"You should come with us, Karin." Sasuke said.

"H-hai..." Karin said.

* * *

Almost 2 months.

Daytime.

Karin was walking through the paths where the wooden fences were near the buildings. She was looking down at the ground as she walked, thinking about what Zosui said to her early.

 _Flashback._

 _Konohagakure Hospital._

 _One of the hallways._

 _Karin was standing close to the wall and Zosui, in his usual outfit, was standing a few feet away from her. A white line drawn in the middle of the hallway._

 _"I've signed you and your team members to take part in the next Chunin Exams." Zosui said._

 _"Me?" Karin asked, making sad face._

 _Karin has heard of the Chunin Exams, they were tests and an o_ _pportunity for Genin to be promoted to Chunin. The exams structure and evaluation process differ from one exams to the next so that Behind cannot come prepared._

 _"This exams displays the strength of Ninja Village through their Genin's abilities. It's considered a war by proxy. We cannot afford to lose. Since you're too weak to right, your only duty is to help and keep the other 2 completely replenished. I only allowed you to join the Team 9... Keep that in mind and make sure you get us good results." Zosui said._

 _Karin closed her eyes as she bowed her head down sadly. "Hai..." she said._

 _Flashback ends._

* * *

As Karin continued to walk she quickly raised head up as her eyes widened she suddenly sensed some unknown chakras especially a big dark chakra.

 _"They.. must here for the Chunin Exams...?"_ Karin thought, scared of the dark and evil chakra coming her way along with 2 others that came from the location Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, and other small chakras.

A few minutes later Karin spotted them when they turned a corner, they were heading her way. The first was a girl that looks to be 15 years old had sandy blonde hair that was gathered into 4 consecutive ponytails, teal eyes, fair skin, wearing a single light purple colored, off-the-shoulders garment that extended to halfway down her thighs, with a scarlet sash tied around her waist that carried a giant black iron fan that had cream colored on it and 3 purple circles, mesh on her right calf and left thigh, a black Sunagakure forehead protector around her neck, and black sandals. The second was a boy that looks to be 14 had fair skin, dark purple face painting on his face, wearing a black, baggy, full body suit with a red and yellow circle on the front, a black hood which covered his head completely, and had cat-like ears and his Sunagakure forehead protector on his forehead, black sleeveless gloves, black sandals, and white tape and and black shuriken holster tied to the right side of his leg, carrying something wrapped in beige bandages that had brown hair sticking out at the top of it on his back. The third one was boy who had the dark, big, and evil chakra looked to be 12 years old, had fair skin, pale blue eyes, short spiky red hair, tanuki-like black rings around his eyes, no distinctive pupils or eyebrows, kanji for "love" (愛, _ai_ ) on the left side of his forehead, which his hair is parted in order for it to be kept visible, wearing a black body suit with an open neck, t-shirt-like sleeves, and almost full-length leggings, a white cloth over his right shoulder and the left side of his hips, a tan wide leather band from his left shoulder to his right hip with which he carries his light brown gourd and around which he wraps his Sunagakure forehead protector, and black sandals. He showed an emotionless face.

Karin could feel her heart speed up as she continued to walk, getting closer to the 3 with each passing step. When she was beside them for a second she stopped, the 3 didn't pay Karin any attention as they walked passed her. Karin slowly turned around as she saw them walk off before she turned back around and walked forward as she went to where Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura's location.

When Karin made it she saw Sasuke standing a few feet from her and Naruto and Sakura, in her new qipao that looked exactly like her old old except it was sleeveless, standing away from him. The 3 chakras that Karin sensed earlier were standing in between Naruto and Sakura. The first one was Konohamaru who was 8 years old, had fair skin, short spiky brown hair, black eyes, and a small chip in his tooth, wearing green goggle on his forehead, a short sleeved yellow shirt with a red Konoha symbol printed on the front of it, grey shorts with a dark blue square patches on the bottom of it, a long blue scarf wrapped around his neck, and blue sandals. The second one was Mortified who was 8 years old, had fair skin,orange hair tied up, with red elastics, into two very large pigtails, perpetual blush, black eyes, wearing a red tank-top over a pink t-shirt layered at the bottom, grey pants, green goggles, blue sandals. The third one was Iron who was 8 years old, had fair skin, black eyes, brown hair, drip of snot hanging from his nose, wearing large circular glasses, a long sleeved blue shirt which was zipped up in the middle, green goggles on his forehead, brown pants, and blue sandals.

"Hello, Karin." Sasuke greeted smiling.

"Hello to you too, Sasuke..." Karin greeted shyly.

"Karin the Chunin Exams are coming up soon, dattebayo!" Naruto said smiling.

"I know... that's great..." Karin said.

 _"Who are those people...?"_ Karin thought scared, thinking about the 3 people that walked by her.

* * *

Tomorrow.

Sunset.

Forest.

Karin was walking through the forest to think about the Chunin Exams, since yesterday she's been sensing many chakras from other villages come into Konohagakure. It was going to be starting in a week and her Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina were happy that she joined but also were scared and worried about her as well. Even though that Karin's being forced to join she was a little happy because she wanted to see Naruto and Sasuke fight others in the Chunin Exams.

 _"Am I not strong to even enter the Exams... Shigeri and Hiroki.. they really want to join the Chunin Exams... but.. I'm not even a fighter of our group even though Aunt Kushina is teaching many jutsus are right now..."_ Karin thought. _"I must be prepared for the Chunin Exams in less than a week..."_

Karin suddenly sensed Sasuke far away from her but still in the forest, she walked towards the location where she sensed him, near the clear grass field and trees. It took her a few minutes and when she made it Karin quickly hid behind a nearby tree and poked her head out a little to see Sasuke throwing kunais at some of the targets on the trees. She watched silenty in awe as Sasuke threw more kunais at all of the targets at once.

 _"His skills.. have really improved.. since the mission we've went on months ago..."_ Karin thought, astonished.

As Karin stepped forward a little to see Sasuke but she accidentally stepped on a twig she quickly stepped back, hoping Sasuke didn't hear it but it was too late as she saw him looking in her direction, knowing he heard it. She quickly hid behind the tree.

"Show yourself!" Sasuke said seriously.

Karin still stayed behind the tree, a little scared.

"Or else I'll force you out!" Sasuke said.

Karin slowly poked her head out to see Sasuke holding a kunai with his right hand and a serious look on his face before she slowly stepped away from the tree as she made a sad face.

Sasuke lowered his kunai and his face soften when he saw it was Karin.

"Karin." Sasuke said, putting his kunai in his pouch with his right hand before running over to her.

Karin didn't say anything. When Sasuke made it to Karin he hugged her tightly causing her to blush.

Sasuke pulled away and looked at Karin with worry. "I'm so sorry Karin, I didn't know you were there." he said.

"N-no I-I'm sorry... I didn't step out..." Karin said shyly.

"I could've hurt you..." Sasuke said worriedly.

Karin was about to say something else but she looked to the right because she sensed someone coming to their location quickly, her blush vanished.

"Karin, what's the matter?" Sasuke asked concerned.

"I detect a chakra coming towards us..." Karin said.

Karin recognized this very familiar chakra. _"But.. why is he doing this...?"_ she thought confused.

A few seconds later chakra revealed to be a fair skinned man was wearing a Amegakure plate on his light brown straw hat and uniform. Sasuke let go of Karin and stepped in front of her to shield her from the person.

"Stay behind me." Sasuke said.

Karin stared at the man confused. _"Iruka.. why did he send a clone and transformed him into a Amegakure Shinobi..? Is he testing us...?"_ she thought.

"Get lost unless you wanna die." Sasuke said

"Talk is cheap!" the man yelled before jumped into the air and threw shurikens at Sasuke with his right hand.

Sasuke pushed Karin out of way and pulled out a kunai from his pouch with his right hand and reflected all of the shurikens.

"Karin, get back!" Sasuke yelled.

Karin stepped back a little, seeing Sasuke ran over to the man and threw his kunai at him before he started fighting him. She watched Sasuke and the fight for 2 minutes until Sasuke kicked the man in the face hard with his right leg, making the man fall to the ground in pain.

Sasuke landed on the ground. "Stay out of our village." he said.

The man disappeared in a puff of smoke, revealing to be only a clone.

 _"Was he going easy on Sasuke.. or Sasuke defeated the clone with ease...?"_ Karin thought.

Sasuke turned to Karin and walked over to her. "Are you okay, Karin?" Sasuke asked worried.

"H-hai..." Karin lying shyly.

"Then why are you shaking?" Sasuke asked as he stopped right in front of her.

Karin looked down at her hands and saw that they were shaking. "I'm sorry Sasuke... I guess I'm a little nervous about the Chunin Exams coming up..." she said.

"Are you sure you wanna join the Chunin Exams?" Sasuke asked.

"Hai..." Karin said, looking at Sasuke.

"I'm asking you this question because there ninja will be very advanced and have no mercy on other people especially from other villages. It really worries if they come after you and hurt and possibly kill you." Sasuke said worriedly.

Karin blushed softly, seeing the care and worriedness in Sasuke's eyes. "I-I k-know... but I also get worried about... you and Oniisan as well... you guys are joining the Chunin Exams..." she said shyly.

Sasuke carefully grabbed Karin's hands with both of his hands. "At least promise me one thing." he said, looking into her eyes.

"W-what is it..?" Karin asked shyly, blushing.

"Be careful in the Exams okay." Sasuke said.

"H-hai..." Karin said shyly.

* * *

End of Chapter 11.

Please review.

No Flames.


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12.

Please review.

No Flames.

* * *

Day time.

Outside one of the Rooms in the Academy.

Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin, in their usual outfits, were standing outside of the testing rooms. Karin sensed Sasuke, Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, Kiba, Shino, Shikamaru, Ino, and Choji were inside.

"We have to win this Chunin Exams." Hiroki said.

"For the honor of Konohagakure." Shigeri said then turned to Karin on the right. "You better try harder."

"H-hai..." Karin said sadly and shyly.

Shigeri slid one of the shoji doors open with his right hand before he, Hiroki, and Karin went inside and slid it closed behind them. Karin immediately sad and scared at all of the genins participating in the Chunin Exams, which was consistent of Konohagakure, Sunagakure, Otogakure, Amegakure, and Takigakure ninjas, she put her hands together near her chest as they stared at her.

"We're going to wait to over until the Exams starts, you stay right there Karin." Shigeri said before he and Hiroki walking over to the left.

Karin watched as Shigeri and Hiroki walked over to the left and sat down next to the wall, she looked down at the ground sadly and dropping her arms.

"Karin!" a voice yelled out.

Karin stopped looking at the ground and turned to the right to see Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura, in their usual outfits, were standing a few feet away from her.

"Oniisan..." Karin said softly, walking over to them and stopping next to them.

"It's good to see that you're finally here, dattebayo." Naruto said.

"You made it." Sasuke said smiling at Karin.

Sakura glared at Karin.

"You 3 as well..." Karin said softly.

"Sasuke-kun, where have you been?!" Ino yelled smiling.

Karin saw Ino, in her usual outfit, ran up to Sasuke and hugged him from behind, she saw Sasuke glaring at Ino. Naruto and Sakura saw it to but Sakura was now glaring at Ino.

"Boy you have no idea how much I was hoping you show up here. I've missed those bruting good looks of yours." Ino said.

"Hey you porker, back off! He's mine!" Sakura yelled angrily, pointing her right index finger at Ino.

Ino released her grip on Sasuke and now stood on the right side of him but still had her left arm around his neck. "Miss Forehead, they let you in? Still got those big frown lines on your build board brow I see."

"Leave my forehead out of it!" Sakura yelled angrily, her hands near her chest.

Ino placed her right index finger under her right eye and made a face as she sticker her tongue out. Sakura growled at her.

 _"Will they ever stop fighting...?"_ Karin thought.

Karin suddenly sensed 2 chakras coming near them.

"Oh it's you guys.." a male voice said.

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, Ino, and Sakura turned around and saw Shikamaru and Choji, in their usual outfits, and Choji was eating out of a bag of chips with both hands.

"I knew this was gonna be a drag but I didn't know it was gonna be this lame." Shikamaru said lazily, he hands in his pockets.

"So all 3 stooges are here, dattebayo." Naruto said to Shikamaru.

Karin looked at Naruto. "Oniisan..." she said.

"Hey you know what pipsqueak, ah forget it. You're a waste of time." Shikamaru said annoyed.

"Sorry but Sasuke is all mine." Ino said before she placed her right index finger under her right eye and made a face as she sticker her tongue out again.

Karin looked back at Ino holding onto Sasuke, then she she sensed Kiba, Shino, Hinata, and Akamaru heading towards them. Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, Shikamaru, Ino, Choji, and Sakura looked to see Shino, Kiba (with Akamaru on the top of his head), and Hinata, in their usual outfits, were walking towards them. Shino had his hands in his jacket pockets. Ino released her left arm from around Sasuke's neck and stayed a little behind him.

"Well, well what do you know, it looks like the whole gangs back together again." Kiba said smiling.

"Oh, hi Naruto-kun.." Hinata greeted shyly, her left hand near her chest.

"Hm." Naruto asked confused, looking at Hinata.

Karin saw Hinata blushed and looked away shyly smiling when Naruto looked at her. _"So... Hinata really does have a crush on Oniisan..."_ she thought.

"You guys too huh? Man everyone's here for this stupid thing." Shikamaru said annoyed.

"Yep, here we all are the 12 rookies." Kiba said before he laughed. "This is gonna be fun at least for those of us who are good enough to make the cut! Right Sasuke." looking at him.

Karin looked at Sasuke, who was now smirking at Kiba. Ino became angrily as she raised her right fist near her chest.

"Kiba, careful you don't get over confident." Sasuke said to him.

"Just wait, we're gonna blow you guys away. We've been training like crazy." Kiba said smirking.

"What do you think we've been doing sittin' around picking Daisy's?!" Naruto yelled then pointed his right index finger at Kiba. "You don't know what training means!"

Karin stared at Naruto sadly. _"Everyone is always trying to start fights..."_ she thought then looked forward.

"Um, don't mind Kiba.. I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it.." Hinata said shyly, twiddling her 2 index fingers together.

"Huh?!" Naruto asked confused.

Hinata gasped softly before she looked away to the left shyly, blushing.

Kiba looked at Hinata. "Hmph?" he questioned confused.

Akamaru barked.

Choji started to walk over to Kiba and Akamaru, who stared at him confused, until he was stopped by Shino, who stepped in front of him.

"What do you want?" Choji asked.

Shino looked at the ground.

"What's wrong?" Choji asked, looking down at the ground.

Shino and Choji saw a bug crawling on the floor.

"Thought maybe you haven't seen it." Shino said.

Choji looked at Shino confused. "Huh?" he asked.

Shino looked at Choji. "Didn't want you steppin' on it." he said.

"Why, you saving it for lunch?" Choji asked.

Karin looked to the right as she sensed someone walking over to them, a man that looked to be 19 years old had fair skin, black onyx eyes, ash-grey hair that reached a little past his shoulders and was in a ponytail and had bangs, wearing black rimmed circular glasses, a white shirt sleeved shirt with a dark purple high collared sleeveless shirt over it, long dark purple pants with a white clothed waistband and a grey pouch on the back, blue clothed forehead protector wrapped around his forehead, long dark purple fingerless gloves with armoured plates on the back of the hand, white bandages wrapped around the lower half of his leg, and blue sandals.

 _"That guy... there's something weird about him..."_ Karin thought.

"Hey you guys!" the man said.

Sasuke, Naruto, Shikamaru, Ino, Kiba, Choji, Shino, Akamaru, Hinata, and Sakura looked at the boy coming towards them.

"You might wanna try keeping it down a little." the man said before he stopped a few feet from them and put his hands on his hips. "I mean no offense but you're the 12 rookies right? Fresh out of the Academy. I wouldn't go making a spectacle of yourselves, just cool it this isn't a class field trip."

"Well who asked you! Who are you!" Ino yelled at him.

"I'm Kabuto Yakushi, but really look around you." Kabuto said.

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, Shikamaru, Kiba, Akamaru, Ino, Choji, Shino, Hinata, and Sakura turned forward to see all of the genins participating in the Chunin Exams were staring at them.

"You made quite an impression." Kabuto said.

Karin walked backwards a little sad and scared, Sasuke stepped in front of her protectively.

"See those guys, they're from the Rain Village, very touchy. They're all are. This Exam makes everyone tense.. and you don't wanna run them the wrong way right now." Kabuto said.

 _"So... we're really going to competing with all of them...?"_ Karin thought sadly.

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, Shikamaru, Kiba, Shino, Hinata, Akamaru, Ino, Choji, and Sakura looked back at Kabuto again.

Kabuto smiled as he closed his eyes looking down. "You can't help it, I mean how could you know how things work you're just rookies." he said then opened his and stopped looking down. "You remind me of myself awhile back."

"Kabuto, is that your name?" Sakura asked.

"Yeah." Kabuto said.

"This isn't the first time you've taken the Exam?" Sakura asked.

"No it's my seventh." Kabuto said.

 _"Huh, it really is...?"_ Karin thought, surprised and confused.

"Huh?" Shikamaru asked.

"Well they're twice a year so this would be my fourth year." Kabuto said.

"Wow, a veteran you must really be an expert by now." Sakura said amazed.

"Yeah sort of." Kabuto said.

"Cool you can give us all the inside tips!" Naruto said.

"Yeah some expert, he's never passed." Shikamaru said.

"Well seventh times the charm that's what they say." Kabuto said, rubbing the back of his head with right hand.

"So I guess all of those rumors about the Exam being tough are true. Oh man I knew this was gonna be a drag." Shikamaru said annoyed, turning his head little to the left.

Kabuto took his right hand off of his right hip. "Hang on, don't give up hope yet. Maybe I can help you kids out a little." he said then reached into his pouch with his right hand and pulled out orange cards that had green outlines with symbols in the middle with his right hand. "With my ninja info cards."

 _"Those are a lot of cards Kabuto has, he must have lots of information on the Exams and people..."_ Karin thought.

"What the heck are those?" Sakura asked.

"It's hard to explain." Kabuto said, stacking them neatly with his left hand. "But these cards have been chakra incoded with everything I've learned over the past 4 years." then he crouched down on the ground, his left hand on his left leg and placed the cards on the ground with his right hand and let them go. "I've got more than 200 of them, so you seek haven't been completely wasting my time." then he picked up the top card with his right hand. "They may not look like much to the naked eye, in fact they appear blank." turning it over to other side to see it was completely white and placed his left index on it.

Everyone looked down at the cards.

"Don't won't just anyone seeing this stuff." Kabuto said, spinning the cards around with his left index finger.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked.

Karin was sensing the chakra coming out of Kabuto on to the card.

"You see I'm using my chakra to reveal their secrets, like this for example." Kabuto said closing his eyes, holding up his right index and middle finger.

Suddenly a puff of smoke appeared around the card and it revealed a map and the number of people from villages participating in the Chunin Exams. Kabuto took his left index finger off of the card and lowered his right hand.

"Awesome, a map of what..?" Sakura said.

"It shows the geographical distribution of all the candidates who come to take the Chunin Exam, what villages they come from and how many from each village." Kabuto said then looked up at them. "Why do you guys think they all come here to take the Exam together at the same time?"

Everyone stayed quiet except Choji, who was eating chips.

 _"I know the answer but I'll let Kabuto explain it..."_ Karin thought.

"It's to foster friendship between nations of course, international brotherhood and all that and it's true enough as far as it goes." Kabuto said.

"But there's another reason." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Sasuke a moment before looking back down at Kabuto.

"Yeah, you see the important thing is that this way they can carefully regulate the total number of shinobi that end up in each village there by maintaining the balance of power." Kabuto said.

"Oh yeah, the balance of power." Naruto said, folding his arms.

 _"I know don't get it that much,_ _Oniisan.."_ Karin thought sadly.

"Balance of power big deal it's all a drag." Shikamaru said.

Kabuto placed his right hand over the card and a puff of smoke appeared above it, the card turning completely white again. "If the balance isn't maintaining the one nation could wind up with many more shinobi than it's neighbors and it might be attempting to attack them, so they try to maintain the status quo, makes sense I suppose." he said.

"Hmph." Shikamaru said.

Sasuke stepped forward a little. "Do those cards of yours have any info on the other candidates individually?" he asked.

Karin looked at Sasuke curiously.

"They might.. You have someone special in mind." Kabuto said.

"I might." Sasuke said.

Kabuto put his left hand on the stack of cards and his right hand on the single blank card and put the card back with the other cards, stacking them together with both hands. "Well I can't promise my information is complete or perfect but I've got something on just about everyone." he said. "Including you guys of course.. so which one is it, tell me anything you know about them a description, where they're from, whatever.." then held up a card with his right hand. "Anything at all."

 _"W-wait.. h-he has information on all of us...?!"_ Karin thought shocked.

"He's Gaara of the Desert and there's Rock Lee of Konohagakure while you're at it." Sasuke said.

"Man, that's no fun you even know their names, that makes it easy." Kabuto said.

Kabuto quickly swiped 2 cards from the deck of cards with his right hand. Everyone looked at Kabuto. Karin looked up at Sasuke again to see he had a serious look on his face and looked back down. Kabuto held the 2 cards near his face.

"Here they are." Kabuto said.

"Show them to me." Sasuke said.

Kabuto put the deck of cards on the ground with his left hand and the one of the 2 cards on the beside it on the ground, putting his left index finger on top of one of the 2 cards. "Okay, first up is Rock Lee." he said, spinning the card around as he held up 2 fingers of his right hand.

Kabuto stopped spinning the card when there was a puff of smoke and revealed information about Lee, he took his left index finger off of the card.

"Looks like he's about a year older than you guys, mission experience: 11 C ranks and 20 D ranks, his squad leader is Guy, in the last 12 months his taijutsu is radically improved but his other skills are pretty shaky, last year he got a lot of attention as a genin but for some reason he choose not to participate in the Chunin Exam, this would be his first time as a candidate same as you guys. His team mates are Tenten and Neji Hyuga." Kabuto said.

 _"I know we only knew this team on one mission... but Sasuke would have a lot of information about him now..."_ Karin thought.

Kabuto placed another one of the 2 cards over it with his right hand as it turned blank. "Okay, now for Gaara of the Desert." he said spinning the card with his left index finger and stopped it as it puffed smoke.

The information about Gaara appeared, Kabuto took his left index finger off of the card. Karin's eyes widened when she recognized the genins from earlier.

 _"W-wait t-that's them...?"_ Karin thought shocked.

"Mission experience 8 C ranks and get this 1 B rank as a genin. There's not a lot more information on this guy, he was a rookie from another land originally, but there is this.." Kabuto said then fixed his glasses with his left hand. "His team mates are Temari and Kankuro. He survived every mission without getting a scratch on him." lowering his left hand.

 _"W-wait... what...? B-but that's impossible...!"_ Karin thought shocked.

"The dude's done a B rank as a genin.. and has never even been injured..?" Shikamaru asked shocked.

"What's the deal with this guy dattebayo?" Naruto asked shocked.

Sasuke just looked down serious at the card.

Kabuto pulled out another card from the deck of cards with his right hand and placed it over the 2 cards and put his left index finger then a map appeared and he took his left index finger off of it. "Konohagakure, Sunagakure, Amegakure, Kusagakure, Takigakure, Otogakure, from the looks of it they've all sent exceptional skilled candidates to the Exam this time around." he said, looking to the right before he looked back at them again. "Of course, Otogakure is small, it sprang up recently no one knows anything about it, those guys are a mystery."

 _"Huh..?"_ Karin thought confused.

Kabuto quickly put all of the cards together again with both hands. "Well you get the point, the competition's going to be intense this year." he said smiling.

 _"Can all of us... really survive this...Exam...?"_ Karin thought worried.

Hinata put her right hand to her face. "So it would seem, it's almost enough to make you lose your confidence." she said worried and shyly.

Ino turned to Hinata. "It's a fine time to start talking like that!" she yelled.

Hinata looked at Ino.

"Do really think it's gonna be tougher this time?" Sakura asked.

"Oh yeah, in the 4 years I've been coming I've never seen a crop of candidates with this much potential as this bunch ." Kabuto said.

Karin looked over at Naruto to see that he was making a face.

"Yep we've got our work cut out for us." Kabuto said.

Karin suddenly saw Naruto shaking. _"I wonder what's wrong with Oniisan...? Was it something that Kabuto said...?"_ she thought worried.

Karin saw Sakura walk up to Naruto on his left side and leaned in towards him.

Sakura placed her left hand up, smiling. "Hey, don't worry Naruto we'll be fine." she said.

Karin and Sakura were suddenly confused by Naruto's attitude and he stopped shaking, he quickly turned towards the many groups of genins and pointed his right index finger yelling then smiling, putting his left hand on his hip.

Everyone looked at Naruto shocked.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki and I'm gonna beat everyone of ya, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled smiling.

 _"Oniisan... w-why did you have to do this...?!"_ Karin thought shocked and scared as all of the genins looked at them.

Sasuke, Shikamaru, Shino, Kiba, Akamaru, Choji, Ino, and Sakura looked at Naruto while Karin and Hinata looked at him sadly.

Ino stepped on the right of Sakura, who had her right hand near her chest. "Hey! What's that idiot tryin' to do, get us killed?!" she yelled.

Sakura closed her eyes smirking annoyed, lowering her right hand. _"I've should've known he's not smart enough to be scared."_ she thought then opened her eyes.

"Tell that boyfriend to keep his big fat trap shut!" Ino yelled at Sakura's face.

"Who's boyfriend?!" Sakura asked yelling angrily.

"Oh I forgot you can't get one!" Ino yelled angrily.

"What you say?!" Sakura yelled angrily.

"Yeah!" Naruto yelled smiling, raising his hands in the air then put on the back of his head. "I feel a lot better now!"

Karin looked at Sasuke to see that he was now smirking at Naruto. _"Huh..?"_ she thought confused.

Karin looked back at all of the genins to see that they were still staring at them then looked at Naruto again.

"Ah can you repeat that again a little louder, didn't quite catch it?" Kiba asked, placing his right hand over his mouth.

"You moron. Are you trying to get everybody in the place to hate our guts or what?" Shikamaru questioned.

Naruto laughed until Sakura quickly grabbed him from behind and tried to strangle him.

"Oniisan." Karin said.

"Naruto you idiot! Why'd ya have to go and say something like that, you obnoxious little!" Sakura yelled until stopped strangling him when she saw all of the genins looking at them.

All of the them looked at the other genins.

Sakura raised up her right hand, smiling. "Oh hi everyone, don't mind him sometimes he says these fazzy things he doesn't really mean them it just kinda come out, he's got this condition you know kinda a psychological thing he really should be on medication." she said laughing a little.

Sakura let go of Naruto and faced him. "Now see what you've done Naruto, you hurt everybody's feelings, they think you don't respect them but that isn't true, is it Naruto?! she yelled.

Karin looked into the crowd of genins more and saw the 3 Otogakure genins looking at them. The first one was a boy who looked to be 14 years old had light brown skin, black eyes hunched back, wearing white bandages that covered most of his face except his left eye, a large beige poncho with long sleeves, dark grey forehead protector on his forehead, a snake patterned scarf around his neck, a straw raincoat protruding from the back of his scarf, and a large amplifier on his right arm for most of his attacks, long grey sandals, and long snake like pattern pants. The second was a boy that looked to be 14 had fair skin, spiky black hair that sticked up, black eyes, a short sleeved beige shirt with two black stripes and three prints of the kanji for death (死, _shi_ ) down the front, dark grey forehead protector had an attached happuri under the cloth rather than connected to the metal plate, snake like pattern scarf around his neck, long grey sandals, and long snake like pattern pants. And the third and last one was a girl that looked to be 14 years old had fair skin, black eyes, very long black hair, almost reaching down to the ground, tied by a violet ribbon right near the end, wearing a dark grey forehead protector on her forehead, a pale green vest somewhat similar to a flak jacket, and long snake patterned pants and scarf, and long grey sandals.

 _"What.. are they planning...?"_ Karin thought.

Karin suddenly saw them scatter and move quickly around the other genins to get to their location.

"What ya just for once in your life think about what you're doing, think about the rest of us!" Sakura yelled, pointing her right index finger at Naruto.

"Fine." Naruto said.

Karin saw the second one of the Otogakure genin climbed on one of the desk and jumped into the air, pulling out 2 kunai and threw them at Kabuto with his left hand. Kabuto immediately dodged them by jumping backwards and the first one of the Otogakure genin suddenly appeared in front of Kabuto lifted his right arm. The 10 genins watched the scene. When the first one of the Otogakure genin tried to punch Kabuto, only for him to dodge it smirking.

 _"Man he's fast!" Naruto and Sakura thought._

 _"He's almost as quick as me."_ Sasuke thought smirking.

 _"Oh no... He wanted Kabuto to dodge... Kabuto's injured..."_ Karin thought, immediately sensing his chakra.

Kabuto gritted his teeth as his glasses suddenly cracked and pieces of glasses fell to the ground, he placed his right hand on his glasses. "Oh I get it, so it was that kind of attack." he said smiling then he pulled off glasses with his right hand.

Sasuke stepped forward a little. "Hang on, I saw it all he dodged the attack! How did that happened?!" he said.

"It must've come closer than it looked. Looking at him acting like it was nothing, real tough guy." Shikamaru said.

 _"That technique is dangerous..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin saw Kabuto look serious and his eyes widened as he fell to the ground on his knees and his hands on the ground as he dropped his glasses. Karin's eyes widened as she saw Kabuto coughed up something on the floor.

Everyone watched the whole scene.

"What did he just?!" Naruto asked.

Sakura placed her right hand near her mouth. "Kabuto, what's wrong?!" she asked. "What is it?!"

 _"Poor Kabuto..."_ Karin thought sadly.

"Heh." the second boy from the Otogakure genins.

Kabuto coughed some more.

Naruto and Sakura ran up to Kabuto and kneeled beside him, Naruto was one his right and Sakura was on his left.

"Hey Kabuto, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled.

"Are you okay?!" Sakura asked yelling.

"Yeah.. I'm fine." Kabuto said, lifting himself up a little and looking at the 3 Otogakure genins.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked.

Naruto and Sakura looked up at the 3 Otogakure genins.

"Not such a tough guy after all I guess. Maybe that's why he's on seventh try." the first Otogakure boy genin said.

"Write this on your little card punk, the genin from Otogakure will be Chunin when this over guaranteed." the second boy from the Otogakure.

Kabuto placed the back of the his left hand on his mouth.

Naruto growled at the 3 Otogakure genins so did Sakura.

Karin looked at the 3 Otogakure sad and scared when they said that. _"It has to be those metal devices on his arms that did it to Kabuto... I'm sure of it..."_ she thought.

 _"I don't get it he saw their attack in time to evade it. What made him fall apart?"_ Sasuke thought serious.

Karin looked forward as she suddenly sensed another powerful chakra and many other chakras with it as well. There was suddenly a big puff of smoke appeared.

"All right you baby faced generates, pipe down and listen up!" a man's voice yelled.

Everyone looked forward at the big puff of smoke. The smoke cleared up to reveal a man looked to be 27 years old, had brown skin, black eyes, a long slash under his right eye and another going beside his left eye and through his mouth, wearing a dark grey standard uniform of the Intelligence Division, along with a black trench coat and gloves, a black bandanna wrapped around his head with the forehead protector plate on his forehead, and dark grey sandals. The many shinobi, female and males, behind him wore dark blue forehead protectors and light grey and silver versions of the man, and grey sandals.

"It's time to begin, I'm Ibiki Moroni your protector and from this moment your worst enemy." Ibiki said smirking.

Karin felt her heart stop as she was scared of him. Everyone looked at Ibiki.

Ibiki pointed his right index finger at the 3 Otogakure genins. "First, you candidates from Otogakure knock it off! Who told you, you could fight?! You wanna be failed before we've even begun?!" he asked yelling.

"Sorry it's our first time, guess we were a little jumpy sir." the first boy from Otogakure.

"Hmph. I'll say this once so listen up! There will be no combat between candidates, no attacking each other without the permission of your proctor and even then the use of fatal force is strictly prohibited, anyone who even thinks of messing with me will be disqualified immediately, got it!" Ibiki yelled.

 _"Ibiki... he really is scary..."_ Karin thought.

Everyone went silent.

"Hmph. No fatal force, that's no fun." the second boy from Otogakure said smirking.

"Now if we're ready, we'll proceed to the first stage of the Chunin Exam. Hand over your paperwork, in return you'll each be given a number. This number determines where you will sit. We'll start the written test once you're all seated." Ibiki said.

 _"Wait...?! A written test... Oniisan doesn't like written test..."_ Karin thought.

"No! Not a written test, no way! Dattebayo!" Naruto yelled.

Karin signed sadly. _"I knew that was going to happen..."_ she thought, closing her eyes.

...

10 minutes later.

The proctor's were sitting in chairs by the windows and walls with clipboards and pencils in their hands. All of the genins were sitting in chairs and desks, everyone had 2 pencils, 1 eraser, and 2 of their numbers stacked neatly on the left side of them while their test was in front of them. Karin was sitting in the seat 102, which was 3 desks behind and 2 away from Sasuke, her team mates Shigeri was sitting in seat 5 and Hiroki was sitting in seat 38. She could see Sasuke, Naruto, Hinata, and Sakura from back here. Her hands were on her lap as she looked forward.

 _"I know you'll pass the test Oniisan... even if you don't like them..."_ Karin thought.

Ibiki walked to the front of the room and grabbed a stick of chakra from the board with his right hand and held it near the board, looking at everyone.

"Everyone eyes front! There are a few rules you need to be aware of! And I won't answer any questions, so you better pay attention the time around!" Ibiki said.

 _"H-hai..."_ Karin thought.

Ibiki turned towards the board and started writing something on it. "All right, rule number one is this: the written part of the Exam is conducted on a point reduction system, contrary to what some of you are maybe use to, you'll all begin the test with the perfect of 10 points." he said writing and looking at all of the genins. "1 point will be deducted for each answer you get wrong, so if you miss 3 your final score will be 7."

 _"Oh, I get it..."_ Karin thought.

"Rule number 2: Teams will pass or fail based on the total scores of all 3 members." Ibiki said.

 _"Huh?!"_ Karin thought surprised.

Mostly everyone was shocked at this.

Sakura slammed her head on to the table with both of her hands on the desk, annoyed before raising her head up. "What?! Wait a second! You're saying we all get scored as a team?!" she said.

 _"I guess.. Sakura doesn't believe in Oniisan..."_ Karin thought sadly.

"Silence! I have my reasons so shut up and listen!" Ibiki yelled.

 _"So.. what are his reasons...?"_ Karin thought.

"Rule number 3: the sentinels you see positioned around the room are there to watch you carefully for any signs of cheating!" Ibiki said.

Karin looked to the left at the sentinels before she looked forward at Ibiki.

"And for every incident they spot they will subtract 2 points from the culprits score." Ibiki said.

Karin continued to stare at Ibiki.

"Huh?" Sakura asked confused.

"Be warned, their eyes are extremely sharp and if they catch you 5 times you'll be dismissed before the test are even scored." Ibiki said.

 _"Okay..."_ Karin thought.

"Anyone foolish enough to be caught cheating by the sentinels doesn't deserve to be here." Ibiki said. ".. If you wanna be considered shinobi then show us what exceptional shinobi you can be."

 _"I'm very good at work like this.. but I don't know about Shigeri and Hiroki.. but I know they will do fine..."_ Karin thought.

"One more thing if any candidate should get a zero and failed the test then the entire team fails." Ibiki said.

Karin suddenly looked at Sasuke, who was now making an angry and annoyed look on his face, before she looked over at Naruto to see that he had wrapped his arms around himself.

Karin looked forward when Ibiki started talking again.

"The final question won't be given out until 15 minutes before the end of the testing period." Ibiki said.

 _"Huh...?"_ Karin thought.

"You'll have 1 hour total... Begin!" Ibiki yelled.

Karin picked up one of her pencils with her left hand before she looked down and read the first question on the test.

 _"We have to decipher a code.."_ Karin thought.

Karin looked and read at the first question for a moment before she written her answer down in the first blank box with her left hand.

 _"That was a really easy question... Now for the second question..."_ Karin thought then looked at the second question. _"Line B in the diagram indicates the trajectory of a shuriken thrown at enemy sees by ninja a seated atop a tree 7 meters tall. Describe and formulate the trajectory required if C were positioned at points D, E, and F also predict the farthest possible range of a shuriken and explain how you arrived at your answer."_

Karin thought about the second question for a minute before she her answer down on the second blank with her left hand. She looked up from paper. _"I wonder how Oniisan and the others are doing...?"_ she thought concerned.

...

6 minutes later.

As Karin was working on the ninth question she suddenly stopped writing.

 _"Even though these problems are easy for me, these must be really advanced for most of the genins... so why did they give us these kind of questions...?"_ Karin thought before she closed her eyes.

After a minute, Karin suddenly opened her eyes again as she figured it out. _"He literally just said we have to cheat but not get caught.. he's testing us to see how can gather information without getting caught..."_ Karin thought before she looked down and began finishing her ninth answer before putting her pencil down with her left hand. _"I hoped the others figure this out soon..."_

Karin looked forward to see Naruto and Hinata were now silently talking to each other and Hinata was blushing. _"I wonder what they're talking about...?"_ she thought .

Karin suddenly saw Naruto smiling as Hinata about to slide Naruto until there was a kunai that flew past their faces and landed on someone else's test. She, Naruto, Hinata, and a few other genins were shocked and scared.

 _"Oh no...! Are sentinels after Oniisan.. he hasn't even done anything yet...!"_ Karin thought shocked.

The genin that now has a kunai on his test stood up from his seat and looked at the proctor that threw the kunai. "Wh-what the?! What was that all about?!" he asked.

"5 strikes and you're out. You just failed." the sentinel said.

"What?! It can't be!" the genin asked shocked.

The sentinel pointed his right index finger at the genin. "You and your team mates will leave the room immediately." he said.

Karin saw 2 male genins stood up from their seats and walked towards the exit before the genin left with them out of the room.

"Candidate number 23 failed! Number 27 and 43 failed!" one of the sentinels said.

Karin watched sadly as the 3 genins left.

...

5 minutes later

Karin watched as a genin was being dragged out of the room by 2 sentinels, yelling loudly.

A male Sunagakure genin stood up and slammed his right hand on his desk. "No! No way! Who say I cheated 5 times! Where's your proof?! How can you keep track of all of us?! You got the wrong guy! How do you know I wasn't just-" he yelled but was cut off.

Karin's eyes widened as she watched as the Sunagakure genin was suddenly pinned to one of the walls by one of the sentinels with his left arm.

"Sorry pal we were chosen for this duty we don't make mistakes like that you can't even blink without us seein' it. We're the best of the best and you my friend are history." one of the sentinels said before he released the Sunagakure genin. "Now get out and take your team mates with you."

 _"Amazing.. the Sunagakure genin was lying .. and one of the sentinels knew it just like I do..."_ Karin thought shocked.

Karin looked forward to see Naruto and Hinata again before they looked back at their own tests. _"So I guess Oniisan, didn't want to copy off of Hinata's anymore because of the incidents..."_ she thought.

...

15 minutes later.

A few more teams had failed. Karin was looking over her answers to kill time and wait for the tenth question then she looked up at the clock.

 _"Only 15 minutes left before we get the tenth question..."_ Karin thought then looked down. _"Am I.. really ready for that question...?"_

 _..._

15 minutes later.

Almost half of the genins were gone from the room.

Karin was looking forward with her hands in her lap, waiting patiently for the tenth question.

Ibiki smirked. "Hmph. Now we've weeded out most of the hopeless cases, 15 minutes to go. Time for the main event. All right! Listen up, here's the tenth and final question!" he said.

 _"It's finally... the time..."_ Karin thought.

"But.. before I give you the question there are some more rules that you need to be aware." Ibiki said.

 _"Huh...? More rules...?"_ Karin thought.

As everyone continued to look forward, Kankuro, in his usual outfit, with his crow disguised puppet. Karin sensed that it was a fake.

"Ah, made it just in time." Ibiki said to Kankuro.

The sentinel puppet closed the door. Some of the genins looked at Kankuro.

"I hope you found your trip to the bathroom enlighten." Ibiki said. "Well, take your seat."

Kankuro walked forward to his seat and secretly slipped Temari, in her usual outfit, a tiny scroll before continued to his seat and sat down.

"These rules are unique to question 10. Listen carefully and try not to let them frighten you." Ibiki said.

Karin's eyes widened a little.

"Very well then rule number 1: each of you is free to choose not to be given the final question, it's your decision." Ibiki said.

 _"Huh?"_ Karin thought confused.

 _"Say what? We're free to choose..?"_ Sasuke thought.

Everyone became confused.

"Woah, what's the catch?! Let's say we decide we don't wanna do it, what happens then?!" Temari asked yelling.

"If you choose not to take the tenth question regardless of your answers to the other 9 you'll get a 0. In other words you fail and that means of course both your team mates fail as well." Ibiki said.

 _"I can't believe this..."_ Karin thought.

"Not so fast, you didn't let me finish." Ibiki said.

 _"... And there's more..."_ Karin thought.

"If you do except the question but answer it incorrectly, you will not only fail... you will be barred from taking the Chunin Exam ever again!" Ibiki said.

 _"W-wait... What...?!"_ Karin thought shocked.

Kiba stood up from his seat and pointed his right index finger at Ibiki. "Hey that's bull man! That's ridiculous, what kind of bogus rule is that?! There's lots of people here who've taken the test before!" he yelled.

Akamaru barked as he was on the top of Kiba's head.

Ibiki started to laugh then stopped. "I guess you're just unlucky. I wasn't making the rules before but I am now. Of course if you don't wanna take it, you don't have to." he said.

Kiba lowered his right hand. "Huh?" he asked.

"If you're not feeling confident then by all means skip it, you can come back and try again next year." Ibiki said then started laughing again.

Kiba sat back down in his seat.

 _"What is Shigeri and Hiroki going to do... and also the others..?"_ Karin thought worried.

Karin saw Naruto rise up a little.

"Now then if you're ready, the tenth and final question. Those who don't wanna take it raise your hand. Your number will be recorded and then you're free to go." Ibiki said.

After a few seconds, Karin saw a male genin, that was sitting beside Naruto and Hinata, stood up as he raised his right hand.

"Uh, I'm out. That's it, I'm out." the male genin said. "I just can't do. I'm sorry."

"Number 50 failed. Number 130, Number 110 failed, that means you're out too." one of the sentinels said.

"Gino, Enoho, I'm sorry guys." the male genin said.

2 male genin stood up from their seats and walked to the exit.

Karin watched as more genins stood up from their seats and said they quit before walking out of the room. She looked over at Naruto, sensing that he was sad.

 _"Oniisan..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin suddenly saw Sakura was about to raise her right hand until she saw Naruto raised his left hand.

 _"No Oniisan... don't do it...!"_ Karin thought sadly. _"Y-you... you have to put your hand down...!"_ then she closed her eyes as she lowered her head. _"P-please... don't do it..."_

Suddenly there was a slam, Karin opened her eyes and lifted her head up to see Naruto had his left hand on the desk now, it surprised Sasuke, Karin, Hinata, Sakura, and some other genins were surprised.

"Don't underestimate me! I don't quit and I don't run! You can act tough all you want, you guys aren't gonna scare me off! No way! I don't care if I do get stuck as a genin for the rest of my life!" Naruto yelled then stood up from his seat. "I'll still be Hokage someday, dattebayo!" then sat down and folded his arms.

Karin stared at Naruto in surprise for a moment before she smiled softly at him. _"That's my Oniisan..."_ she thought.

"This decision is 1 that could change your life, if for any reason you would rather quit now's your last chance." Ibiki said.

"No way I never go back on my word that's the way of the ninja." Naruto said smiling.

Karin saw Ibiki stepped forward a little and looked at all of them before he looked at the sentinels, who nodded at him.

Ibiki to all of the genins. "Well then I admire your determination if nothing else, for those of you remaining there's only 1 thing left to do and that's for me to tell you.. that you've all passed the first Exam." he said.

Everyone looked at Ibiki confused.

 _"Huh...?"_ Karin thought confused.

Sakura stood up from her seat, her hands on her desk. "What. Hold on! What just happened?! What do you mean we passed?! Where's the tenth question?!" she asked yelling.

Ibiki smirked. "There never was one, not a written one at least. Actually your decision to stay was the answer to the tenth question." he said.

 _"So.. the tenth question was whether we stayed or left..."_ Karin thought.

"Huh?" Sakura asked confused.

"Wait a second!" Temari said.

Karin looked over to the right at Temari.

"So the other 9 questions you have us were just a waste of time! Is that what you're saying?!" Temari asked yelling.

Ibiki put his hands in his trench coat pockets. "No no, not at all, quite the opposite. The first 9 questions had an important overwriting purpose, to test your ability surreptitiously gather strategic intelligence under the most verse circumstances." he said.

"Oh, well that clears up everything." Temari said.

Karin looked back at Ibiki.

"Let me explain, you see my objective was to test you not only as individuals but as a team and how well you function as a part of that team, that's why the test was scored on a team basis so you know that everything you did or fail to do would directly affect your team mates. I wanted to see how you handle the pressure." Ibiki said.

Naruto folded his arms. "Yeah I figured it was something like that. That's why I kept my cool." he said.

 _"That's not true, Oniisan..."_ Karin thought, sensing that Naruto was lying.

"The first 9 questions on the test were difficult, in fact as you may have realized too difficult for any genin to be expected to solve. I imagined that most of you quickly came to that conclusion that you'd have to cheat if you'd had any chance of passing the fact is that the test was designed to encourage cheating it almost demanded it." Ibiki said. "Of course it would have done you little good unless you have someone to cheat from so I disguised 2 Chunin who already knew the answers and had them sit in with you."

Karin looked at one of the 2 genins. _"So.. they're Chunins... and we didn't even realize it..."_ she thought.

Naruto put his hands behind his head as he smiled. "Ha ha ha, oh come on I wasn't fooled for a second, you have to be completely stupid not to see it." he said then turned to Hinata. "Isn't that right, Hinata?"

 _"Please stop lying Oniisan... Everyone can see right through them..."_ Karin thought sadly.

"Those who were caught at it failed, better not to cheat then to cheat clumsily." Ibiki said taking off of his forehead protector, showing the top of his head. He was now holding his forehead protector in his right hand.

Karin gasped when she saw the scars on the top of Ibiki's head, they were a collection of burn marks, punctures from where screws were used, and long slash marks. _"Those scars... they must have really hurt..."_ she thought.

Almost all of the genins looked at Ibiki shocked.

"Information, it can be the most valuable weapon in battle. How long you gather intelligence can determine whether a mission a failure or success." Ibiki said. "They'll be times you'll have to risk you life to get it."

"Man, what a mess. Scars and puncture sounds, burn marks. What he must've endured." Sasuke said.

Naruto gulped.

Ibiki started putting on his forehead protector again with both hands "Of course you must always consider the source of your information, intelligence gathered from an enemy not necessarily accurate." he said as he was finished putting on his forehead protector. "Always bear this in mind, this information can be worse than no information at all it can lead to the death of comrades or the loss of a village that's why I put you in the position where you had to gather accurate intelligence, cheat in order to survive. And that's why those who weren't good enough were weeded out, leaving the rest of you."

"Okay, but I'm still not getting the tenth question is all about." Temari said.

"You're not, the tenth question was the main point of the whole Exam, surely you see that." Ibiki said.

 _"Oh, I get it..."_ Karin thought.

"Uh, sure but explain it anyway." Sakura said.

"As I said before, the goal was to test you not only as individuals but as part of a squad. The final question, gave you 2 choices." Ibiki said then held up 2 fingers from his right hand. "Both difficult, you can choose to play it safe and skip the question though it meant that both you and your team mates will be failing or you could try an answer it, if you got it wrong you would lose your chance of every being Chunin. It was a no win situation." then lowered his right hand.

Everyone continued to stare at Ibiki.

"But just the sort of Chunin to face almost everyday, for example let me give you a hypothetical mission: to steal a document from an enemy strong hold. You have no idea how many ninja the enemy has or heavily armed they are. Further more you have reason to believe that the enemy expects you, that you might very well walking blindly into a trap. Now you have the option of taking a pass on this insane mission or save my comrades or I would rather live to fight another day. Can you choose to avoid danger? No. There will be many missions that will seem almost suicidal if you think about it but they do not think about it you think only of the goal, achieving it through courage and discipline. These are the qualities required of a Chunin Squad leader." Ibiki said.

Karin looked interested in what Ibiki was saying.

"Those who choose to safle of 2 paths, those whose determination falters in the face of diversity, those who put their comrades lives in jeopardy by worrying about their own, those who would save their own necks at the price of sacred honor, we've never be able to call themselves Chunin at least as long as I'm here." Ibiki said. "As for the rest of you, you have successfully answered the tenth question I've put to you. You have earned the right to continue on to the next step. You have passed through the first gate, I hereby declare this part of the Chunin selection Exam completed. There's nothing left but to wish you all good luck."

"All right! We did it! Way to go, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled smiling.

Mostly everyone looked at Naruto, some especially Sakura looked at him annoyed. Karin smiled nervously at Naruto.

 _"That's Oniisan for you..."_ Karin thought.

After a few moments, Karin stopped smiling and looked forward as she turned to the left as she suddenly sensed another chakra coming rapidly to the room.

 _"Huh...?"_ Karin thought confused.

Someone broke through the glass window and it was flying everywhere, which caused Karin to gasp along with a few other students, a woman with a curtain was revealed and she had one kunai in each hand threw them in the air and the curtain left the woman as it now dangled from the ceiling, as it now was hanging behind her and over Ibiki.

The woman looked to be 24, had fair skin, violet hair in a short spiky fanned ponytail, light brown pupil less eyes, 3 black tomoe on the left side of her neck, large breasts, wearing a fitted mesh body suit that covers her from her neck down to her thighs, dark orange skirt, a tan overcoat with a purple in-seam and a pocket on each side, a dark blue belt, pale grey shin guards, small pendant that looks like a snake on her neck, wrist watch on her left wrist, and dark blue sandals.

"Is this part of the test, dattebayo?!" Naruto asked shocked.

Everyone looked at the mysterious woman.

"Heads up, boys and girls! This is no time to be celebrating!" the woman yelled as she had left hand in her left trench coat pocket and her right hand on the large violet cloth that read 'Here comes the Second Exam's Proctor: Anko Mitarashi.' "I'll be your next proctor! Anko Mitarashi! You ready for the second test?!" then raised her right hand in the air making it a fist and took her left hand out of her left pocket. "Good, let's go! Follow me!"

Everyone stayed silent at Anko's outburst. Sakura had annoyed look on her face.

 _"Wait... right now...?!"_ Karin thought confused. _"But we just finished the first part of the Exam..."_

Ibiki stepped out from behind the violet cloth on the left side. "You're early again." he said as his left hand was on the cloth.

Anko blushed in embarrassment.

Karin closed her eyes as she sighed in relief. _"For a second.. I thought the second exam was starting..."_ she thought then opened her eyes.

Ibiki stepped forward as he let go of the cloth with his left hand.

Anko stopped blushing as she lowered her hands and looked at all of the genins. "How many are there?" she asked then turned to Ibiki. "Ibiki, you let all these guys pass? Your test was too easy, you must be getting soft."

"Or it could be a stronger crop of candidates this year." Ibiki said, putting his hands in trench coat pockets.

Anko put her hands on her hips then turned to the genins again. "Hm, they sure don't look it. Trust me before I'm done with them more than half will be eliminated." she said.

Karin made a scared look on her face. _"What...?! She said more than half...?!"_ she thought.

"Huh, more than half? Really?" Sakura asked confused.

Anko smirked. "This is gonna be fun. All right you maggots had it easy so far but things are gonna be different starting first thing in the morning! I'll let your squad leaders know where you'll meet me, dismissed." she said.

* * *

Sunset.

All of the genins were walking out of the Academy to go home and prepare for the second part of the test. When Karin made it outside she sensed that Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were a few feet ahead of her. She saw them walking away, from left to right was Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura quickly walked through the crowd of genins but still managed not to bump into anyone. As Karin was almost near them she called out.

"Oniisan!" Karin yelled.

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stopped and turned around to see Karin running towards them.

"Karin." Sasuke said.

"Oh hey, Karin!" Naruto said, waving with his right hand.

Karin stopped next to Naruto and looked at him. "Oniisan, are you okay?" she asked worried.

Naruto lowered his right hand. "I am. Why do you ask, dattebayo?" he asked confused.

"I noticed your behavior during the first part of the Exam and you were lying a little.." Karin said.

Naruto smiled nervously. "So, you noticed that?" he asked.

"Hai.." Karin said.

"It wasn't hard to spot, seeing that you're an Usuratonkachi." Sasuke said.

Naruto looked at Sasuke angrily. "What did you say, dattebayo?!" he asked.

"Well everyone noticed it." Sakura said.

"I'm worried.." Karin said sadly.

Naruto turned back to Karin. Karin stepped forward to Naruto and hugged him.

"When you raised your hand Oniisan, I was scared that you were going to quit..." Karin said sadly.

Naruto hugged Karin back, smiling. "No need to worry Karin, I'm not gonna quit in the Chunin Exams, dattebayo." he said.

Karin pulled away a little to look at Naruto. "Are you sure?" she asked.

"Yeah but I'm also worried you." Naruto said. "How did you do on the test?"

"Um.. I answered all of the questions without cheating.." Karin said.

Naruto became shocked. "W-what?!" he asked.

"That's impressive." Sasuke said.

"Hey I answered them without cheating too." Sakura said.

"I don't know about the second part of the test." Karin said.

"Huh, why?" Naruto asked.

"Because the second proctor Anko said that more than half of us will be eliminated.." Karin said.

"Don't worry, we're gonna pass that second part of the test, dattebayo!" Naruto said.

* * *

Tomorrow.

Day time.

Forest of Death.

Anko and the genins, that were standing with their teams, that passed the first part of the test were standing next to a long metallic fence that had 44 Gates and surrounded a large Forest. 3 male sentinels were sitting at a booth near the gate. Karin now had her light brown medium sized pouch wrapped around her waist again.

 _"Aunt Kushina told me about the Forest of Death.. What are we doing here...?"_ Karin thought, a little shocked.

"Woah, nice place. What is it?" Naruto asked, looking at the locks on the gate and the sign that said 'Forest of Death's.

Every genin was looking at the locks and the sign.

"This is a location for the second case of the Exam." Anko said, her left hand on her left hip as she was facing the genins. "It's a 44th battle training zone. But call it the Forest of Death."

"Forest of.. Death..?" Naruto asked.

 _"Do you really... have to go in there...?"_ Karin thought.

Naruto had his left hand on his forehead as he looked up at some of the trees.

"This whole place just completely creeps me out." Sakura said, her hands together near her chest.

Anko laughed a little. "It should they call it the Forest of Death, and soon enough you're gonna find out why." she said.

 _"So.. we are going in there...?"_ Karin thought scared.

"It's the Forest of Death and soon enough you're gonna find out why." Naruto said, mocking Anko. "Do your worst, you're not gonna scare me away!" then pointed his right index finger at Anko. "I can handle anything!"

 _"Oniisan..."_ Karin thought looked at Naruto worried before she looked at Anko, who was still smiling.

Anko closed her eyes, smiling. "So.. looks like we've got ourselves a tough guy." she said before she pulled out a kunai from her right sleeve and threw it at Naruto with her right hand.

Karin quickly turned around to see a scar on Naruto's left cheek and blood was running down from the sound. She saw a shocked look on his face before she sensed and saw Anko appear behind Naruto.

 _"S-she's fast... almost like Sasuke...!"_ Karin thought shocked.

"You tough enough to handle this? You're not afraid are you?" Anko asked smiling, placing her right hand on the right side of Naruto's cheek.

Karin watched as Naruto started to look at Anko, who placed her left hand on his neck. _"She really is crazy and scary..."_ she thought shocked.

"Tough guys like you usually leave their blood all over this Forest." Anko said.

Anko put her left hand on Naruto's wound before she placed her left index finger on Naruto's blood. Karin suddenly sensed an unknown man behind Naruto and Anko, he had fair skin, long smooth black hair that reached his waist, black eyes, wearing a straw hat that had a rope tied to his head and a piece of paper that hanging on a string that had the kanji for 'Aku' written 3 times, plain grey garbs with a long sleeved black shirt and long black pants underneath, grey clothed Kusagakure forehead protector on his forehead, white bandages wrapped around his calves, and black sandals. Anko opened her eyes and quickly pulled another kunai from her left sleeve with her left hand and turned to see unknown man genin was holding the kunai Anko threw awhile ago with his tongue. The man was called Shiore.

"I was just returning your knife." Shiore said smiling, his left hand on his straw hat.

"Why thank you Kusagakure ninja." Anko said smiling with her eyes closed.

Karin's eyes widened a little and she became shocked and a little scared because she sensed the unknown man genin's chakra was dark and strange. _"What's wrong with this guy's chakra...?! It's dark and.. weird...?!"_ she thought.

Everyone (especially Naruto) looked at Anko and Shiore in shock and a little horror. Shiore lowered his left hand from his straw hat.

Anko opened her eyes still smiling. "Y'know I really am only recommending that you standing this close behind me, if you wish to reach a premature end." she said then grabbed her kunai from Shiore's tongue with her left hand.

Shiore quickly put his tongue back into his mouth. "My pardon with the sight of blood in your blades slicing through my hand. I'm afraid that I just became a little excited, I meant you no harm." he said.

 _"This guy is really weird...!"_ Karin thought shocked.

Hinata put her hands together near her chest. "Naruto..." she said worried.

Anko released Naruto as she continued to look at Shiore, who walked back to his 2 male team mates, the first one had on a mask and sleeveless gloves, and the second one had on straw hat with the Kusagakure metal plate on top of it.

"Like wise." Anko said.

 _"Uh, I thought this Forest was creepy but these guys are even creepier."_ Sakura thought before she stepped out of the way so the Shiore could pass.

Naruto placed his left hand on his left cheek.

"Seems like everyone today is quick tempered, it must be something air." Anko said smiling. "This is gonna be fun."

Karin looked at Anko, who walked back to the fence and turned around to look at all of the genins.

"Now before we begin this test, I have something to hand out to you all." Anko said smiling, reaching into her overcoat with her right hand on her left side of the coat and pulled out a stack of papers. "It's just a standard consent form."

Karin's eyes widened in shock and fright. _"W-what...?! Is she saying... we could die in there...?!"_ she thought.

Most of the genins looked at Anko in disbelief.

"Before the test all of you going to have to read over this form and then sign it." Anko said.

"What for?" Naruto asked.

"Some of you may not come back from this test and I have to get your consent to that risk. Otherwise, it will my responsibility." Anko said smiling then laughed.

 _"I knew it..."_ Karin thought scared.

Some of the genins started questioning themselves.

"Now I'll explain how you will be doing on this test. Here pass these out." Anko said handing the stack of papers to Naruto with her right hand. "The first thing you need to know is that this test will test everyone of your survival skills.

Naruto grabbed the stack of papers with his right hand and passed them to Yoroi Akado, one of Kabuto's team, who was a man and he looked to be 23, had light brown skin, brown hair, wearing a purple mask around his mouth that hung to around his neck to conceal his face, black sunglasses that obscured his eyes and dark blue clothed Konohagakure forehead protector which he wore like a bandanna, a high-collared, sleeveless, purple shirt with a short-sleeved, short sleeved white shirt underneath, a simple obi around his waist, purple pants, purple fingerless gloves, and blue sandals, which he grabbed with his left hand and took one and gave them to Kabuto, who took one and gave to Misumi Tsurugi, another one of Kabuto's team mates, a man that looks to be 23 years old, had fair skin, spiky black hair, a purple mask around his mouth that hung to around his neck to conceal his face, a pair of round framed glasses and dark blue clothed Konohagakure forehead protector which he wore like a bandanna, a high-collared, sleeveless, purple shirt with a short-sleeved, short sleeved white shirt underneath, a simple obi around his waist, purple pants, purple fingerless gloves, and blue sandals, then he took one and passed the stack of papers to Karin.

Karin grabbed it with her both hands and took one with her left hand then passed it to Sasuke, who grabbed them with his left hand. Karin looked down at the consent form with both hands. _"I wonder what we're going to doing in the Forest of Death if we all needed these consent forms...?"_ she thought.

Anko pulled out a scroll and held it with her right hand and rolled it down to a map of the Forest of Death. "First, I give you all a description of the terrain on the practice field." she said smiling.

Karin looked up at the map Anko was showing.

"The 44th battle training zone has 44 locked entrance gates, there are rivers and a forest the center is a locked tower located 10 kilometers from each gate. It's in this confined area that you'll undergo the survival test. The test consists of.." Anko said then rolled the scroll up with her right hand and placed it back in the left side of her overcoat. "An anything goes battle to get your hands on these scrolls." then held 2 scrolls with her right hand.

One scroll was white scroll that had 2 thin lines that surrounded kanji for Heaven in the middle and the second scroll was blue and had the kanji for earth in the middle.

 _"Huh...? We're going to battle for them...?"_ Karin thought.

"Both of them?" Sasuke asked, holding his consent form with his right hand and his left hand in his pocket.

"Yes." Anko said, lowering the 2 scrolls with her right hand and placed the blue scroll in her left hand. "You'll be fighting to get both a Heaven scroll and an Earth scroll.

 _"But... I'm not good battling... not like Shigeri and Hiroki..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"All together, 26 teams will be taking part in this test so half of those teams will going after the Heaven scroll and the other half will be trying to get the Earth scroll. She placed both scrolls in her left hand and held them up to her face. "I'll hand over one kind of scroll to each team and that's what you'll be vying for." Anko said then lowered the 2 scrolls.

"Okay, so how do we pass the test?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura turned to the right and looked at Sasuke.

"Your entire squad must bring both a Heaven and an Earth scroll to the tower." Anko said.

 _"So... only half of us will fail... and other half will pass..."_ Karin thought.

Sakura turned forward again and looked Anko. "That means that the very best half of us will fail, more if not every team is able to get both scrolls." she said.

"No one ever said it would be easy. Oh and 1 more thing, the test has a time limit." Anko said then placed the 2 scrolls on right side of overcoat with her left hand. "You must finish it within 5 days."

 _"Huh...?! We're going to in the Forest of Death for 5 days...?!"_ Karin thought shocked.

Ino stepped forward a little. "5 days out there?!" she questioned.

Choji raised both of his hands. "What are we supposed to do for food?!" he asked yelling.

"Just look around the Forest is full of things to eat, there's plenty to feed all of you." Anko said.

Kabuto turned his head a little to the right. "Yeah but.." he said then looked forward smiling. "That's not all the Forest has plenty of, there are man eating beasts and poisonous plants in there."

 _"W-wait... man eating beasts... and poisonous plants..."_ Karin thought, getting scared.

"Oh man." Choji said whining, closing his eyes.

Ino turned to the right to look at Choji. "Quiet down, this is why they call it survival you know!" she said.

"That means.. with these circumstances there's no way the teams will pass the test." Neji, in his usual outfit, said.

"With the days getting longer, the nights are getting shorter, so we will have less time to sleep and less time to recover." Lee said then smiled. "It is a challenge indeed." a sparkle in his teeth.

"Completely surrounded by enemys, there won't be time to rest we'll have to keep a constant watch." Sasuke said.

Things Sasuke and Lee said made Karin even more worried.

Anko placed both of her hands on her hips. "Right. This test also measures endurance behind enemy lines. This is designed to be a grueling test and I'm sure some of you won't be up to the challenge." she said serious.

Shikamaru raised his right hand. "So I'm, let's say mid Exam, can we quit?" he asked.

Anko turned to the left to look at Shikamaru. "Of course not in the middle of a battle you can't say 'Sorry I quit'." she said then smiled closing her eyes. "Well I guess you could but it's probably gonna get ya killed."

 _"So... that's not an option.. If I don't fight with Shigeri and Hiroki, we'll be killed..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Shikamaru folded his arms as Choji was now eating a bag of chips.

"Oh just great. This is gonna be a drag." Shikamaru said lazily.

Anko looked forward as she stopped smiling and opened her eyes. "There are also some ways you can get disqualified." she said then raised up her left index finger. "The first is simple: if all 3 members of a team can't make it to the tower with both scrolls after 5 days." then raised up her left middle finger. "Number 2: if a team loses a member or a member comes incapacitated and cannot continue.. but most importantly none of you, absolutely none of may look at the contents of the scroll until you've reached the tower."

 _"Huh? Why not...?"_ Karin thought confused then looked at Naruto, who started to speak.

"W-what if it happens to flap open and we'll read it?" Naruto asked.

Karin looked back at Anko.

Anko lowered her left hand and held up her right index finger, smiling. "Let me put it to you this way young man, you don't want to know." she said.

 _"I trust what she is saying... It could be really dangerous..."_ Karin thought scared.

Naruto sighed closing his eyes.

Anko lowered her right hand. "There are times when a ninja will be asked to carry secret documents, the scroll rule is test your integrity. Okay we're done, each team take your consent forms and exchange them over there for your scrolls." she said pointing at the 3 sentinels at the curtain booth with her right index finger. "After that, each team will pick a gate and you'll let inside."

All of the genins looked at the 3 sentinels before they looked back at Anko

Anko closed her eyes, sighing. "Oh and I have one more word of advice." she said then opened her eyes. "Just don't die!"

Karin became even more worried and scared at the thought of it, almost reminding of that day when she was 8 of Itachi.

...

5 minutes later.

Karin was sitting down next to a boulder as she held her consent form. Her team mates, Shigeri and Hiroki, were standing a few feet from her. As she was looking down at her consent form with both hands she started to think.

 _"I-I don't know about going into the Forest of Death.. I'm not a fighter of our team, Shigeri and Hiroki are... all I can do is heal them... I'll only get in the way..."_ Karin thought sadly then closed her eyes.

Karin suddenly open her eyes when she sensed Sasuke coming to her, she turned to the right to see Sasuke walking towards her with his consent form in his left hand. When Sasuke stopped in front of her, Karin looked up at him to see that he was looking down at her.

"Hi, Karin." Sasuke greeted smiling at her.

"U-um hello Sasuke.." Karin greeted shyly.

"Do mind if I sit next to you?" Sasuke asked.

"N-no u-um not at all..." Karin said stuttering shyly.

Sasuke sat down next to Karin on the right side of her. "So what were you thinking about?" he asked, looking at her.

"I was thinking about all of us going into the Forest of Death." Karin said then looked down at the ground. "Uncle Minato said that when he was still a Jonin of a team he signed them up for the Chunin Exams and they took it in Forest of Death. But I don't know what's going to happen in there."

"I don't know what's going to happen out there also but I'm gonna worry about you." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Sasuke again.

"I care about you and I don't want to see you get hurt." Sasuke said.

Karin's eyes widened as she blushed furiously.

"I hope nothing happens to you out there." Sasuke said.

Karin looked away, blushing even more. "W-w-well, I-I d-don't w-want a-any to h-happen to you a-and O-oniisan." she said stuttering shyly.

"We'll probably might see each other during the 5 days we have in there." Sasuke said.

"H-hai." Karin said shyly.

Karin stopped blushing a little as she looked at Sasuke. "I wonder what kind of scroll we will get?" she asked.

"I don't know." Sasuke said.

Sasuke suddenly saw Karin looked moved her head to the left side to look at some, he turned his head in the direction she staring at to see 2 of the sentinels were sliding the curtain closed. _"I see how it is, we won't know which team has which scroll and we won't know which of the team members is caring the scroll. Stealing information is really a matter of life and death."_ he thought then looked down at his consent form with both hands for a moment before he looked around. _"It's just like Ibiki said everyone is equally determined to pass."_ then looked back at his consent form. _"And all of them are my enemies."_

"Sasuke." Karin said.

Sasuke looked from his consent to look at Karin, who was staring at him concerned.

"Is everything alright?" Karin asked.

"Yeah." Sasuke said. _"Well almost all of them are my enemies and some are determined but won't hurt anyone while doing it.."_ he thought, speaking of Karin.

...

15 minutes later.

Everyone was done filling out their consent forms and received their scrolls and were now standing at the Gates they were assigned too. Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin were standing next to Gate 25. They had the Earth scroll and Shigeri was carrying it in his small pouch. Shigeri and Hiroki were ready to enter the Forest of Death while Karin was nervous.

 _"I wonder what will happen when we first enter..."_ Karin thought worried.

"You have to stay away from them." Hiroki said.

Karin pulled out of her thoughts to see Shigeri and Hiroki were looking at her serious. "Huh?" she asked confused.

"You have to stay away from your brother and that Sasuke guy while we're in the Forest of Death." Hiroki said.

"Yeah, all they're gonna be after is winning." Shigeri said.

"B-but Oniisan and Sasuke aren't like that, they wouldn't do that." Karin said sadly.

"You'll say that now but when we have something they need they'll take it away from us. Face it when it comes to them you're too trusting of them. So stay away from them." Shigeri said.

Karin stared down at the ground sadly. _"Oniisan and Sasuke wouldn't do that... would they..?"_ she thought.

...

2 minutes later.

When all of the Gates opened up everyone quickly ran inside, some of them started hiding while some stopped by trees and bushes. Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin stopped by a few trees after running for 4 minutes. Karin panted a little, sensing many chakras in the Forest of Death already.

"Okay we need to find a place to hide." Hiroki said.

Suddenly a loud scream was heard, making Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin look up into the sky.

 _"H-huh? B-but we just arrived here in the Forest of Death..."_ Karin thought, getting scared as she sensed some chakras in the Forest of Death were getting weaker.

"We'd better get going before something happens to us." Hiroki said, looking and walking forward.

"Right." Shigeri said, following Hiroki.

Karin looked at the sky for a few more seconds before she followed after Shigeri and Hiroki.

...

Night Time.

Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin were sleeping inside of a tree. Shigeri and Hiroki were sleeping separately on the floor while Karin sitting against the back wall as her back was against it and her pouch was sitting on the right side of her.

They (except Karin who had to hide and guard the scroll) battled a team today and became exhausted when the team fled. When they went into hiding, Karin had to heal Shigeri and then Hiroki before they decided to call it a night.

As Karin was sleeping she started to dream about being surrounded in darkness, she looked all around and only saw more darkness.

 _"W-where... where am I now...?"_ Karin thought confused.

Karin's eyes widened a little as she suddenly froze as she sensed a dark and cold chakra behind her.

"Karin." a very familiar male voice said.

 _"N-no i-it can't be.."_ Karin thought before she slowly turned around. Her eyes widened even more as she saw who it was. "S-sasuke." she whispered.

Karin saw that Sasuke was standing a few feet away from her wearing his usual outfit but he didn't have his forehead protector on his forehead, his hair was messy and was covering his forehead, his sharingan was activated and 2 tomoe were in both eyes, black flame-like markings covered his left arm, left leg, and face. He was smirking at her as a dark purple ora covered him.

"S-sasuke... what happened to you...?" Karin asked softly, putting her hands together near her chest.

"Come with me. I need you." Sasuke said.

Karin stepped backwards a little as she became a little scared. "M-me, w-why...?" she asked stuttering, separating and lowering her arms.

Sasuke didn't say anything to her. When Karin looked at Sasuke's sharingan she suddenly couldn't move her body as she continued to stand up.

 _"I-I I can't move... Sasuke must've done something..."_ Karin thought, struggling to move again.

Karin became scared when Sasuke started to walk over to her, still smirking at her.

 _"W-what's... what's he going to do...?"_ Karin thought.

"I need you." Sasuke said before he stopped right in front of her then he raised his right hand up. "You'll do great." moving his right hand to hold the left side of Karin's face.

Karin's eyes widened as Sasuke was about to touch the left side of her face with his right hand, before he could she scream.

Karin quickly woke up, panting and sweating a little before she stopped panting and looked to see Shigeri and Hiroki were still asleep on the tree floor. _"Was that... really a dream... it felt so real..."_ she thought, looking down then she had an image of Sasuke from her dreams flash into her mind. _"Sasuke..."_

Karin slowly stood and walked to the small hole in the wall to see the full moon. _"I hope.. it was just a dream..."_ she thought.

3 days later.

Day Time.

Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin were now under a large tree. Hiroki and Karin were sitting down, Karin was behind Hiroki as she had both of her hands on his back as she was using her Mystical Palm Technique on him. Shigeri was crouching down next to one of the large tree roots with his left elbow on it.

"Damn it... They're all monsters!" Shigeri said, looking at Hiroki. "How can we steal a scroll when defending ours takes everything we've got?"

Hiroki looked at Shigeri. "But we can't back off! The honor of our village rests with us!" he said.

"Then we'll go back to tracking. And we'll definitely get it done this time." Shigeri said.

Karin stopped using her Mystical Palm Technique as she took her hands off of Hiroki's back as she was done healing him. Hiroki stood up and stretched his arms a little.

"U-um, what should I do?" Karin asked shyly and sadly.

Shigeri stood up as he pulled out their Earth scroll from the inside of the left side of his jacket. "You'll only be in the way if you come along." he said running over to Hiroki and Karin then stopped next to them. "Take this and stay hidden."

"H-hai." Karin said, grabbing the Earth scroll with her left hand.

Hiroki stopped stretching before he and Shigeri quickly took off to find a team that has a Heaven scroll. Karin looked up at the large tree beside her, hearing some birds chirping. Karin used her Chakra Suppression Technique so no other sensory types could track her.

After a minute of looking up at the large tree Karin stood up.

"Oh yeah. I have to keep hiding." Karin said.

Karin suddenly heard a loud thud and turned around to see a large brown bear in front of her, growling at her. She started panting as she was scared of the large bear then closed her eyes as she stopped. "Hey! Where is everyone?!" she asked yelling, opening her eyes and her mouth a little.

The large bear came closer to Karin as it continued to growl at her, drooling a little. When the bear tried to bite Karin, she quickly moved to the left and ran away from it only to trip on a small tree root and fell to the ground with a this. Karin grunted in pain as she closed her eyes and her glasses fell a few feet away from her, still holding on to the scroll with her left hand and her right hand was now covering her head.

As the bear was about to go after Karin and eat her, it suddenly stopped when Sasuke came out of nowhere and hit it in the head with his right leg before he did his Lions Barrage on its head.

"Lions Barrage!" Sasuke yelled.

Karin heard the loud before she opened her right eye and gasped a little then she opened her left eye to see a blurry figure on the unconcious large bear.

"Karin, are you alright?!" Sasuke asked worried.

Karin blinked a few times as she recognized the voice, she stopped using the Chakra Suppression Technique. She gasped softly as she completely knew who it was.

"S-sasuke.." Karin said softly.

Karin couldn't see Sasuke clearly because she didn't have her glasses on her. She looked down at the ground before she released the scroll from her left hand and got off of the ground a little so searched the ground with both hands for her glasses.

"My glasses." Karin said as she continued to look for it.

Sasuke jumped off of the large bear's head and walked over to where Karin's glasses landed and picked them up with both of his hands. He walked over to her and crouched down in front of her, who stopped looking for her glasses and looked up at him, seeing his blurry face.

"Here they are, hold still." Sasuke said as carefully put the glasses back on Karin's face.

Karin fixed her glasses with her left hand and started to see Sasuke clearly, she saw him smile warmly at her.

"That's better." Sasuke said.

Karin back a little as she blushed softly at him, but Sasuke moved towards her and hugged her protectively, his head on the right side of her shoulder.

"That was a close, if I haven't heard your voice that bear would have eaten you." Sasuke said worried.

Karin's eyes widened as she blushed even more. "Th-thank you, S-sasuke..." she said shyly.

2 minutes later.

Sasuke and Karin were sitting next to the large tree together, their backs against it, Karin was on the left and Sasuke was on the right. The Earth scroll that Karin had was sitting in between Sasuke and Karin. Karin's pouch was next to her on the left. Karin was looking down at the ground, nervous at sitting next to Sasuke.

"So your team has an Earth scroll... same as us." Sasuke said then looked at Karin.

"Hai." Karin said.

"Have you and your team had an luck finding a Heaven scroll?" Sasuke asked.

"No." Karin said, nodding her head side to side then looked at Sasuke. "These genins from other villages are really strong and we have a lot of trouble defending our Earth scroll. Shigeri and Hiroki went to find a Heaven scroll a few minutes before you saved me."

"I know it was difficult for you 3." Sasuke said.

"Do you have a Heaven scroll?" Karin asked.

"No, we've searched everywhere?" Sasuke said.

"How is Oniisan and Sakura are doing?" Karin asked.

"Fine but we've faced something difficult." Sasuke said.

Karin looked down at the ground again. "U-um S-sasuke.. can I ask you a question...?" she asked shyly.

"What is it?" Sasuke asked.

"I-If I had a Heaven scroll would you take it away...?" Karin asked.

"No I wouldn't." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Sasuke again.

"I would just find another Heaven scroll." Sasuke said smiling.

"Oh." Karin said softly.

Sasuke slowly stood. "Well I better head back." he said, looking down at Karin. "I'll see you soon."

Karin watched as Sasuke looked away from her and started to walk away, she suddenly remembered something. "P-please.. please wait..." she said softly calling out to Sasuke.

Sasuke stopped and turned around before he looked back down at Karin. "What's the matter?" he asked.

Karin turned towards her pouch before she grabbed the Earth scroll with her left hand and opened up her pouch with her right hand and placed it in. She put both of her hands into her pouch and pulled out something wrapped in a green cloth before she closed her pouch with her right hand and stood up, walking over to Sasuke and stopped next to him. "Here." she said, holding the clothed wrapped out to him.

Sasuke looked down at the clothed wrapped object before he looked at Karin again. "What is it?" he asked.

"It's something some Onigiri I have." Karin said.

"But I can't accept this, you and your team need them." Sasuke said.

"It's okay, I have more with me." Karin said.

"Are you sure?" Sasuke asked.

"H-hai." Karin said.

Sasuke looked down at the clothed wrapped Onigiri before he took them with his right hand. "Thanks." he said.

Karin suddenly noticed 3 black tomoe marks on the left side of Sasuke's neck. "U-um S-sasuke, how did you get those markings...?" she asked, pointing her right index finger at them, then reached for it with her right hand.

Sasuke softly grabbed Karin's right hand with his left hand, making Karin stare at him in confusion.

Sasuke smiled softly at Karin. "I'm sorry, Karin. I'll tell you soon." he said, carefully putting down her right hand with his left hand then he turned around and walked away and stopped before he glanced back at her one more time. "Later, Karin." then jumped up before he disappeared, leaves falling down where he used to be.

Karin stood there as she sensed Sasuke moving away from her location then looked down at the ground. "Okay, next time then." she said to herself.

* * *

Tomorrow.

Morning.

Tower.

Karin was walking around the Tower, even though she, Shigeri, and Hiroki didn't win she still wanted to see Naruto fight. Shigeri and Hiroki left Karin there when she entered the Tower. She finally made it to a large grey arena that showed a large statue of 2 hands making a handsign together, stairs that had rails that lead up to a balcony so people could watch fights, a few large windows behind the statue, and a few steps ahead of it. She stepped inside and looked around the arena.

 _"So.. the people who've pass the second part of the test.. will battle here..."_ Karin thought.

Karin suddenly sensed her Uncle Minato coming to the room she was in. After 2 minutes, Minato, in his usual outfit, came inside to see Karin.

"I knew you would be here." Minato said.

Karin turned around to see her Uncle Minato looking down at her, she looked sadly up at him. "I'm sorry, Uncle Minato... I know that me and my team didn't win... but I wanted to see the people who passed fight..." she said then looked sadly at the ground.

Minato looked down at Karin to see that she was staring sadly at the ground, he smiled softly as he crouched down in front of her. "You really want to see Naruto fight?" he asked.

"H-hai..." Karin said.

Minato put his right hand on Karin's left shoulder. "I'll let you watch the preliminaries Karin." he said.

Karin looked at her Uncle Minato. "Huh...?" she asked.

"I know you wouldn't interfere in any of the battles and at least you've done a very great job in the first part of the test and you've tried your very best to pass the second part of the test. So I'll allow you to watch." Minato said smiling.

Karin smiled softly at her Uncle. "Thank you, Uncle Minato." she said.

...

20 minutes later.

Karin was standing on the balcony as she looked down below. The Jonins (which included Kakashi, Kurenai, and Guy) of the genins that passed the second part of the test were standing forward of the handsign statue, Minato stood a few feet forward of them. Anko (who now wore a grey headset on her head) and 3 other Konohagakure ninja, wearing the Konohagakure flak jacket uniform stood a few feet away on Minato's left side and Ibiki, Iruka, and 2 other Konohagakure ninja wearing the Konohagakure flak jacket uniform stood a few feet on Minato's right side.

There were 21 genins in a 3 by 7 rows, Naruto stood first in the third row, Sasuke stood in second in the third, Sakura stood third in the third row, Ino stood first in the first row, Shikamaru stood second in the first row, Choji stood third in the first row, Kiba (with Akamaru in his jacket) stood first in the second row, Hinata stood second in the second row, Shino stood third in the second row, Neji stood first in the fourth row, Lee stood second in the fourth row, Tenten stood third in the fourth row, Kabuto stood first in the fifth row, Yoroi stood second in the fifth row, Misumi stood third in the fifth row, Gaara stood first in the sixth row, Kankuro stood second in the sixth row, Temari stood third in the sixth row, the first male from Otogakure stood first in the seventh row, the second male from Otogakure stood second in the seventh row, and the first female from Otogakure stood third in the seventh row.

Karin noticed that most of the genins clothes were dirty and they had scars on their bodies and Sakura's hair was no longer at a waist length instead it was almost a shoulder length now.

 _"What happened to them...?"_ Karin thought concerned.

"First of all, congratulations on finishing the second Exam!" Anko said.

 _"I'm glad Oniisan passed the second part of the test, unlike me..."_ Karin thought.

Karin saw Shikamaru and Choji talk briefly and Ino had her hands together near her chest and was looking at Sasuke smiling and talking a little then Shikamaru say something. She saw Guy talking talking to Kakashi but she knew he wasn't listening and saw Guy got angry when Kakashi turned to him and said something.

 _"Are those 2 really rivals ...?"_ Karin thought confused.

Karin noticed that Naruto and Sakura were talking to each other and Sasuke looked serious as he clutched the left side of his neck with right hand and started talking about something.

 _"How did Sasuke get that mark...?"_ Karin thought then looked at the Otogakure Jonin. _"His chakra... It's dark and has had feeling to it..."_

"Alright, now pay attention! Lord Hokage is going to explain the 3rd Exam to you! You better listen carefully maggots!" Anko said before she turned to Minato. "Lord Hokage, they're all yours."

All of the genins stopped talking and looked forward.

Minato stepped forward a little. "First before I tell you what the third Exam tells, I want to explain something about the test itself. Listen closely now it's something all of you need to understand." he said.

 _"Understand the test...?"_ Karin thought confused.

Some of the genins were confused as well. Hinata gasped softly.

"I'm going to tell you true purpose of these Exams." Minato said.

 _"So there was a true purpose what do you mean Uncle Minato...?"_ Karin thought.

"Why do you suppose our country holds these Exams in conjunction with our allies?" Minato questioned. "To raise the ability levels of the shinobi and increase friendship between allied nations to be sure but it's important that you understand it's true meaning. The Exams are representations of the battle between allied nations."

 _"Huh...?"_ Karin thought confused.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" Tenten asked.

"Now if we look at our history, all the countries that we're currently allied with were once neighboring nations that continuously fought each other for power. In order to avoid destroying each other's military strength meaninglessly those nations picked champions to do battle on behalf of their countries at a mutually selected location, that was how the Chunin Selection Exams originally began."

 _"W-what...?!"_ Karin thought shocked, her eyes widened.

Some of the genins were shocked as well.

"Well that's great but why do we have to go through these Exams then? I mean it's not? It's not like we're doing this to pick Chunin to go fight, dattebayo." Naruto questioned.

"Well actually there is no question that part of point of these Exams is to select shinobi worthy of becoming Chunin that's just not the whole story. These Exams also allow for a place shinobi can carry the pride of their nation on their backs and fight against other ninja for their very lives." Minato said.

 _"So that's why..."_ Karin thought.

"The pride of their nation?" Sakura questioned confused.

"Many leaders and people of prominence from various countries are invited to attend this Exam as guests and also possibly to seek shinobi to work for them. This Exam could determine the course of your ninja work from here on out and more importantly those rulers will watch your battles and take note of the strengths that each ninja and each nation is developing. If there's a gap in power between the countries the strong nations are inundated with job request for their ninja and conversely the request to countries that are deemed weak declined, therefore the stronger our nation is the better our position when it comes to negotiating with neighboring countries so it's important to show how much military strength our village has." Minato said.

 _"That's the reason..."_ Karin thought.

"Okay but even so, why is it necessary for us to risk our lives?!" Kiba asked yelling.

Every one stayed silent for a moment.

Minato sighed softly. "The countries strength is the village's strength, the village's strength is the shinobi's strength. And the true strength of the shinobi is only achieved when it's pushed to it's limits such as in a life and death battle. This Exam is a chance for each nation to display the strength of its shinobi and hence the strength of the nation itself, it's because this is an Exam where your life is on the line that is has meaning and it's for this very reason and for the strength of the nation that your forerunners fought in this Exam. It's truly a dream worth striving for.." he said.

"But then why did you use the expression of friendship before?" Tenten asked.

"But you've only remembered half of what I said, you also mustn't have the wrong idea of the Exam's meaning. This is a custom in which balance is preserved by fighting and dying, in the world of the shinobi that is friendship. The 3rd Exam is a fight for life with the pride of your village and your own dreams at stake." Minato said.

 _"Dying..."_ Karin thought sadly.

"Hm, well he sure convinced me." Naruto said smiling, folding his arms together.

"Any test is fine just tell me what the details of the Exam are already, I could handle anything you throw at me." Gaara said.

 _"His chakra.. it's really dark cold... and frightening..."_ Karin thought looking at Gaara scared.

"Okay then listen carefully I'm going to tell exactly what you're all will be doing on the 3rd Exam." Minato said.

A male Jonin appeared a few feet away from Minato bowing down at him, he looked to be 23 years old, had fair skin, brown hair that reached a chin length and a bang in between his eyes, black eyes, dark markings under his eyes, wearing the Konohagakure flak jacket uniform, and a blue bandanna with the grey Konohagakure metal plate on the front of it.

Almost everyone became confused.

"Lord Hokage before you do please allow me, Hayate Gekko, appointed as proctor of the 3rd Exam to speak first." Hayate said.

Minato looked down at Hayate. "Permission granted." he said.

Hayate stood up from the ground. "It's nice to meet you all." he said then started coughing then turned around to face the genins. "There's something I would like all of you." then coughed some more. "to do before the 3rd Exam." then coughed once again.

 _"I sensed that he's sick... but why did he decided to be the 3rd Proctor...?"_ Karin thought worried.

Hayate stopped coughing. "Uh, we have to have a preliminary Exam before we can move on to the real one." he said.

 _"Huh...? A preliminary...?"_ Karin thought confused.

"Huh?" Naruto asked confused.

Everyone became confused at what Hayate said.

"A what?" Sakura asked confused.

"Preliminary, just what do you mean by that?!" Shikamaru asked yelling.

"I'm sorry, Sensei excuse me but I really don't see the point. What's this preliminary all about? Why can't we just move on to the 3rd Exam?" Sakura asked.

"Uh, well you see the first and second Exams might've been too easy, the fact is we've never expected so many of you to still be here. According to the rules of the Chunin Exams: a preliminary round can be held at any stage, in order to reduce the number of candidates remaining." Hayate said.

 _"I guess that makes sense..."_ Karin thought.

"But is that fair?!" Sakura asked.

"It's just that at this stage we have to speed things up a bit. As Lord Hokage said a lot of important guest will be watching, we can't afford to waste their time. They've come to see only the best." Hayate said hold up a clipboard with his right hand and had his left hand on his hip. "So if there are any of you who feel you're not in top physical condition now's your chance-" then started coughing again.

 _"But... you're not feeling well..."_ Karin thought worried.

Hayate stopped coughing. "Sorry about that, as I was saying any of you who don't feel up to this now's the time for you to step out. The preliminaries will be starting immediately." he said.

 _"Immediately...?! No one has taken a break yet..."_ Karin thought shocked.

"Come on, you mean right now?!" Kiba questioned yelling.

"We just finished barely surviving the last Exam, don't we get a break?!" Ino asked.

"Man what a drag." Shikamaru said.

"Hey, when do we eat?" Choji asked.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"Oh yeah uh, the winners will be determined by one on one combats sudden deaths, so like I said if there's anyone who doesn't feel up to it now's the time to raise your hand." Hayate said.

Karin looked at the genins below. _"I hope Oniisan and the others will be okay..."_ she thought worried.

After a few seconds, Karin suddenly saw Sasuke clutch the left side of his neck with right hand and silently gritted his teeth as he started shaking a little as he looked at the right hand, and Sakura worriedly say something to him while Naruto turned around and looked at Sasuke and Sakura. Then Sakura said something else and Sasuke made a shocked expression before he looked away from Sakura, who continued to say something to him then put her hands together near her chest as she closed her eyes tightly. Naruto and Sasuke looked at Sakura.

 _"What are they talking about...? W-why is Sasuke in so much pain right now...? Was it with his battle in the Forest of Death...?"_ Karin thought worriedly.

Karin watched worried as Sakura continued to talk to Sasuke about something, crying and wiping her eyes. She heard Minato, Anko, and Kakashi talking about something but she was too focus on trying to figure out what Sakura was saying to Sasuke, who was getting angry at Sakura and was whispering to her. She saw Sakura was about to raise her right hand until she suddenly saw Kabuto raised his right hand.

 _"W-why is Kabuto dropping out...?!"_ Karin thought shocked and confused.

Almost everyone was confused.

Kabuto smiled. "Okay, you got me. I'm out." he said.

"But Kabuto." Naruto said.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"Kabuto Yakushi of Konoha right?" Hayate questioned. "Okay, you can go on and step back."

"Gotcha." Kabuto said before he turned around and started to walk away.

"Kabuto!" Naruto yelled. "Hold on a second, you can't quit! I don't get this, what's going on, dattebayo?!"

Kabuto stopped walking and looked at Naruto. "Oh Naruto, I'm sorry but my body is just too beat up. I can't hack it. The fact is ever since orientation in that dust up with Otogakure team I have no hearing at all in my left ear. And now that I have to put my life on the line to fight again right away without a break. I can't do it." he said.

Karin sensed that Kabuto was lying a little but she looked at Naruto to see that he was staring at the ground. She suddenly saw Kabuto whispering to Yoroi before he turned to Naruto smiling and waving with his left hand before he walked away again.

Everyone watched as Kabuto left the room.

"Now then, does anybody else want to quit?" Hayate asked.

As all of the genins turned to look forward, Karin suddenly saw Sakura was slowly raising her right hand until Sasuke turned around and placed his left hand on it to prevent her from raising it and told her something that made Sakura sadly cry silently as she spoke to him. She watched as Sasuke and Sakura continued to speak to each other.

 _"What are they talking about...?"_ Karin thought worried.

Karin saw Sasuke released his left from Sakura's right hand and put removed his right hand from his neck and he told Sakura something serious. When Sasuke was done talking Sakura's eyes welled up with tears again and Naruto started saying something to Sasuke, who turned around and faced him. She watched as Sasuke smirked at Naruto as he said something to him, making Naruto look at him surprised.

 _"What did Sasuke to make Oniisan like that...?"_ Karin thought curiously before she looked at Hayate.

"Alright then, we'll now begin the Preliminary round. This round will consist of one on one individual combat at full battle intensity. This is not an exercise. There are 20 of you remaining so that means there will be 10 matches, the surviving candidates from these 10 matches will advance to the 3rd Exam. As for the rules there are none, you will fight until one dies or concedes defeat or is rendered physically incapable of continuing the contest. Naturally those who are losing are urged to concede defeat properly to avoid a fatal outcome. Furthermore, as proctor I'm giving a certain amount of leeway in judging the matches." Hayate said then started coughing again. "I might occasionally intervene if a match seems hopeless to save as many lives as possible. Now it's time to reveal what fate has been chosen for you." then turned around to look at Anko, who nodded and turned around and placed her left hand on the headpiece and started speaking into it.

"Open the panel." Anko said.

Everyone watched as a large black screen started coming out of the wall ahead of them.

"The Names of each pair of opponents are chosen completely at random, before each match these names will on the display behind me. As there's nothing more to say let's begin. In a moment the names of the first 2 opponents will appear." Hayate said.

All of the genins watched the screen.

 _"I wonder who will fight first...?"_ Karin thought curiously.

The screen turned on and many of the remaining candidates names were being shuffled in yellow letters until it stopped and read 'Sasuke Uchiha vs Yoroi Akado'.

 _"Huh?! Sasuke's fighting first...!"_ Karin thought shocked.

Karin looked down at Sasuke to see that he was smirking and clutching the left side of his neck with right hand again but but still was smirking. _"Is he going to be alright...?"_ she thought worried.

"Alright now those names who have been drawn come forward." Hayate said.

Sasuke and Yoroi walked forward and stopped a few feet from Hayate and faced each other.

"You have been chosen for the first match, Yoroi Akado and Sasuke Uchiha." Hayate said, raising both of his hands up. "Are there any objections?"

"None here." Sasuke said.

"No." Yoroi said.

 _"Sasuke... please be careful..."_ Karin thought sadly and worried, then she saw Sasuke silently gritting his teeth in pain again. _"He's in pain again..."_

"Uh alright then, let's begin the first match." Hayate said then coughed once in his left hand. "Okay everyone other than the 2 opposing candidates will now clear the area and move to the upper level."

All of the remaining genins except Sasuke and Yoroi walked towards both of the stairs and climbed up and people from other villages walked to another group of stairs. Minato, Anko, Ibiki, and the other Jonins started walking towards the stairs as well. Karin turned to the left to a few other genins were walking towards her before she looked to see Kakashi walking towards Sasuke, Naruto was yelling Kakashi's name and stopped. She saw Kakashi whispering something to Sasuke, who whispered something back, and something else before he walked towards the stairs.

 _"What did Kakashi whispered to Sasuke...?"_ Karin thought confused and worried.

Naruto and Sakura walked towards the stairs too. Karin looked to the left again to see Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura walking towards her. When they made it, Kakashi and Sakura stood on the right side of her and Naruto stood on the left side of her.

"Karin, what are you doing here?" Naruto asked, looking at her.

"I asked Uncle Minato if I could stay." Karin said.

"But why?" Naruto asked.

"Well even though I didn't win the second part of the Exam, I-I still wanted to see you fight Oniisan..." Karin said, looking down on the right.

Naruto smiled at Karin. "That's great, I am going to win so it's nice to want to see me beat someone in battle, dattebayo." he said.

"I know you are..." Karin said then turned to look down at Sasuke. _"I hope you win, Sasuke..."_ she thought.

Everyone looked down at Sasuke and Yoroi. Sakura had her hands together near her chest as she looked down sadly at Sasuke.

"And if you're ready, let the match begin." Hayate said.

"Oh I'm ready." Yoroi said then made hand signs with both of his hands.

"So am I." Sasuke said making a stance.

Yoroi built up his chakra in his right hand and put his left hand in his pouch as Sasuke reached for a kunai with his right hand in his holster and pulled one out. Yoroi pulled out 3 shurikens with his left hand and threw them at Sasuke, who easily deflected them with his kunai. Sasuke fell to the ground from the pain of the mark and when Yoroi was in front of him, he used his right fist to punch Sasuke but he quickly moved out of the way, making him punch the ground. Sasuke used his kunai to stop moving when he got away from Yoroi and he kicked Yoroi's right hand with both legs and flipped him over so that he was on the ground with him and held on to his right arm with both hands.

 _"Amazing... Even if Sasuke is in pain he's still able to move fast..."_ Karin thought shocked and astounded.

"Hey he got em, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled smiling.

"Really?" Yoroi said before he put his right hand on Sasuke's chest, gripping his shirt as he built up chakra in his right hand again, making Sasuke surprised.

Karin looked in shock and fright as she sensed that Sasuke's chakra was decreasing. _"Wh-what technique is this...?! He's draining Sasuke's chakra...?!"_ she thought.

Sasuke released Yoroi's right arm as he could barely move. Yoroi raised his right fist before he punched Sasuke in the chest, making him grunt in pain, before he quickly stood up from the ground and jumped a few feet away from him. Sasuke was clutching his chest in pain.

 _"Oh no, Sasuke...!"_ Karin thought sadly.

Yoroi ran to Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun no!" Sakura yelled.

Sasuke upper body stood up from the ground as he stopped clutching his chest to see that Yoroi jumped up into the air as his right hand was built up with chakra again and grabbed on to Sasuke's head, making him yell out in pain as he laid on the ground again. Sasuke tried to use both of his hands to pull Yoroi's right hand on off of his head but he didn't budge as Yoroi laughed and smirked.

 _"Sasuke... if he doesn't find a way to get away... he will die..."_ Karin thought sadly as she sensed Sasuke was getting weaker and saw that his struggling was weaker and his left hand fell on the ground.

Most of the people were looking in shock (including Kakashi, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura).

"What the-?! My chakra-! What are you doing?!" Sasuke asked.

Yoroi continued laughing. "You're just noticing it now?!" he asked.

Sasuke closed his eyes as he groaned out in pain. "My chakra, you're stealing it from me!" he yelled, opening his eyes.

Yoroi laughed again as he continued to drain Sasuke of his chakra with his right hand. "You finally caught on huh?" he asked.

Sasuke dropped his right arm on the ground as he tightly closed his eyes.

 _"Sasuke..."_ Karin thought sadly, tears forming in her eyes.

Sasuke opened his eyes as he groaned in pain then he made a fist with his right hand. "Get off me!" he yelled kicking Yoroi with his right leg.

Yoroi stopped using his technique as he landed on his back a few feet away from Sasuke. After a few seconds, Yoroi stood up from the ground while Sasuke was slowly getting his upper half up from the ground.

 _"Thank goodness..."_ Karin thought relieved but still worried about Sasuke.

"So you've still got some strength left huh? Impressive for a guinea pig." Yoroi said.

Sasuke was panting as he watched Yoroi.

"Don't worry little man. I'll make it short and sweet." Yoroi said, holding up his right hand as he used his technique again and ran to Sasuke.

Sasuke slowly stood up from the ground and moved to the right as he dodged Yoroi's right hand, he kept dodging until Yoroi barely struck the left side of Sasuke's face. Karin sensed that Sasuke had loss a little chakra as Sasuke moved away to the right.

Yoroi turned around to look at Sasuke. "What's the matter? Is that really the best you can do?" he asked.

Sasuke tried to kick Yoroi with his right leg but he dodged it as he jumped up into the air and landed a few feet away from him .

Yoroi laughed again.

Naruto looked to the left to see Karin looking sadly at Sasuke and then to the right at Sakura, who had her hands together near her chest as she closed her eyes and turned her head to the right.

Naruto turned forward as he looked down at Sasuke. "Hey Sasuke!" he yelled.

Karin looked to Naruto surprised.

"Come on man, what was that all you got, dattebayo?! And you call yourself an Uchiha!" Naruto yelled.

Karin looked down sadly again to see Sasuke had turned his head to the left side a little to look at Naruto.

Naruto put both of his hands on the rails. "You're gonna let this goon walk all over you. Come on stop messing around and get it in gear, dattebayo!" he yelled.

Sasuke panted a little from exhaustion then he looked to see Karin staring at him with a sad and worried face. _"Karin.. don't worry, I'll think of something.."_ he thought then his eyes widened. _"Wait, that's it!"_

Yoroi activated his technique in his right hand again and ran at Sasuke. "I'll teach you to turn your back on me!" he yelled.

Sasuke turned forward to look at Yoroi.

"Big mistake and your last!" Yoroi yelled.

When Yoroi made it he tried to strike Sasuke with his right hand but he kept dodging it. Sasuke stopped dodging as he suddenly disappeared. Karin saw Sasuke was now in front of Yoroi and he kicked him high into the air with his left leg while his right hand and leg were on the ground and his left hand was in the air. Sasuke got down on his hands and feet before he jumped into the air and went behind Yoroi.

 _"Sasuke's using his Lions Barrage...!"_ Karin thought shocked, looking up at him.

Most of the Jonins and Genins were shocked at what Sasuke just did.

"Okay, I admit it. I kinda borrowed that move but from here on in it's all original." Sasuke said as he placed his left index and middle finger on Yoroi's back.

"Uh the Dancing Leaf Shadow!" Yoroi yelled.

"Now take this!" Sasuke yelled before he groaned in pain.

Karin suddenly saw orange-red flame like markings spread from the mark on the left side of Sasuke's neck.

 _"Wh-what's happening to Sasuke...?!"_ Karin thought shocked as she saw the orange-red markings spread to Sasuke's face.

Sasuke felt like he couldn't move. "No, not again!" he said, closing his eyes. "It keeps getting stronger and stronger." before he yelled out in pain as he opened his eyes and orange-red markings spread to his left eye.

Sasuke suddenly started thinking of Karin again.

 _Flashback._

 _"So your team has an Earth scroll... same as us." Sasuke said then looked at Karin._

 _"Hai." Karin said._

 _"Have you and your team had an luck finding a Heaven scroll?" Sasuke asked._

 _"No." Karin said, nodding her head side to side then looked at Sasuke. "These genins from other villages are really strong and we have a lot of trouble defending our Earth scroll. Shigeri and Hiroki went to find a Heaven scroll a few minutes before you saved me."_

 _"I know it was difficult for you 3." Sasuke said._

 _"Do you have a Heaven scroll?" Karin asked._

 _"No, we've searched everywhere?" Sasuke said._

 _"How is Oniisan and Sakura are doing?" Karin asked._

 _"Fine but we've faced something difficult." Sasuke said._

 _Karin looked down at the ground again. "U-um S-sasuke.. can I ask you a question...?" she asked shyly._

 _"What is it?" Sasuke asked._

 _"I-If I had a Heaven scroll would you take it away...?" Karin asked._

 _"No I wouldn't." Sasuke said._

 _Karin looked at Sasuke again._

 _"I would just find another Heaven scroll." Sasuke said smiling._

 _"Oh." Karin said softly._

 _Sasuke slowly stood up. "Well I better head back." he said, looking down at Karin. "I'll see you soon."_

 _Karin watched as Sasuke looked away from her and started to walk away, she suddenly remembered something. "P-please.. please wait..." she said softly calling out to Sasuke._

 _Sasuke stopped and turned around before he looked back down at Karin. "What's the matter?" he asked._

 _Karin turned towards her pouch before she grabbed the Earth scroll with her left hand and opened up her pouch with her right hand and placed it in. She put both of her hands into her pouch and pulled out something wrapped in a green cloth before she closed her pouch with her right hand and stood up, walking over to Sasuke and stopped next to him. "Here." she said, holding the clothed wrapped out to him._

 _Sasuke looked down at the clothed wrapped object before he looked at Karin again. "What is it?" he asked._

 _"It's something some Onigiri I have." Karin said._

 _"But I can't accept this, you and your team need them." Sasuke said._

 _"It's okay, I have more with me." Karin said._

 _"Are you sure?" Sasuke asked._

 _"H-hai." Karin said._

 _Sasuke looked down at the clothed wrapped Onigiri before he took them with his right hand. "Thanks." he said._

 _Flashback ends._

Sasuke remembered Karin's face, he suddenly remembered what Naruto said to him earlier.

 _Flashback._

 _"Come on! What was that all you got, dattebayo?! And you call yourself an Uchiha!" Naruto yelled._

 _Flashback ends._

Sasuke became angry and annoyed. _"Eh, shut up Usuratonkachi. Don't write me off yet."_ he thought then his eyes widened. _"No won't let this thing take over. No way! Karin! I can't let her see me like this..."_

Karin suddenly saw the orange-red markings on Sasuke started to disappear until it was just a 3 black tomoe on the left side of his neck. _"What's going on...?!"_ she thought shocked and confused.

Sasuke smirked. "Here we go." he said.

"Huh?" Yoroi asked confused.

Sasuke placed his left hand on the back of Yoroi's shirt and moved him a little as he released him and kicked him with his left leg but was blocked by Yoroi's left arm.

"Heh, you're no match for me." Yoroi said.

Sasuke spinner around in the air and hit Yoroi in the face with his left hand, making Yoroi grunt in pain, and punched him in the stomach with his right hand as they started falling down.

"Come back here! I'm not done yet!" Sasuke yelled before he kicked Yoroi in his stomach with his right leg to the ground hard. "Lions Barrage!"

Mostly everyone looked in shock as Sasuke slid on his back when landed on the in pain. Sasuke was laying on his stomach while Yoroi was laying on his back.

Everyone went quite for a moment.

 _"Please Sasuke... you have get up before you and Yoroi both lose..."_ Karin thought sad and worried, looking at Sasuke, who had his face to the ground. _"Please..."_

Hayate walked over to the now unconscious Yoroi and crouched down beside him. "Well this one's had it." he said.

Karin became instantly relieved when she saw Sasuke slowly getting up from the ground while panting in exhaustion. _"Thank goodness that you're okay, Sasuke..."_ she thought, smiling a little.

Everyone watched as Sasuke crouched on the ground.

Sasuke looked up as he wiped his mouth with his left hand and put it down.

"I'm declaring this match over." Hayate said, standing up again and pointed his left hand at Sasuke. "As the winner of this Preliminary round, Sasuke Uchiha advances to the finals."

 _"Sasuke.. really did it..."_ Karin thought.

Sakura smiled at what Hayate said.

"Wait to go, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled.

Karin saw that Sasuke was about to fall on the ground from exhaustion until she sensed Kakashi appeared behind him and held him up with his right leg as he held a red book in his left hand.

"Hm, not bad." Kakashi said.

Sasuke turned to the left to look at Kakashi then smirked.

"Funny before the Lions Barrage your technique was very reminiscent of Guy's taijutsu, you must've used your Sharingan to copy it when you fought with Rock Lee that time." Kakashi said.

"You okay?! Hey Sasuke, you won but in an uncool way! You came out looking like you're the one that got beat up, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled smiling and laughing.

Sasuke looked up to the right at Naruto, annoyed. "Usuratonkachi. Give me a break you little-" he said then closed his eyes, smiling. "Ah well."

 _"At least.. Oniisan and Sasuke are getting along..."_ Karin thought.

 _"Sasuke-kun, thank goodness."_ Sakura thought smiling.

 _"I can't wait until it's my turn, dattebayo!"_ Naruto thought.

Sasuke looked at Lee smirking. _"Rock Lee, if I hadn't seen your moves up close when we went head to head this one would've turned out badly."_ he thought he turned forward and closed his eyes as he placed his right hand on his chest in pain and his left hand was on the ground. _"Still.. I think it's a technique I wanna use very often."_

Karin stopped smiling. _"Sasuke is still in pain..."_ she thought worried.

 _"The kid is something else to have already developed his Sharingan to such a level. And to think we haven't seen his full Uchiha ability yet."_ Kakashi thought.

 _"I still can't believe it, the way the Curse Mark receded as if he's gained control over it."_ Anko thought shocked.

"Ah hah! I knew all the time he'd be okay. Ah hah!" Ino said smiling, her hands together near her chest.

Shikamaru was leaning against the wall, his arms folded. _"This could be the end of the line for us."_ he thought.

"Man I'm hungry." Choji said.

"Wow, he was amazing.." Hinata said, her hands together near her chest.

"Uh, it wasn't anything that special." Kiba said, his right hand on the rail.

...

A few minutes later.

3 Konoha medical ninjas in white suits with a symbol on them came into the room. 2 of them were carrying Yoroi on a stretcher and out of the room.

Karin saw that Sasuke was still panting from exhaustion.

A male medical ninja walked over to Kakashi and Sasuke. "Sasuke Uchiha, maybe you should come along to the infirmary too and let us treat your injuries." he said, stopping next to them.

"I think you're out of your league with this one." Kakashi said.

"Huh?" the male medical ninja asked confused.

"I'll look after him." Kakashi said.

The male medical ninja walked away and out of the room.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi.

Kakashi crouched down beside Sasuke, placing his book in his left hand. "Okay, up you go. You're coming with me." he said then placed his right hand on Sasuke's left shoulder. "We've got to seal that Curse Mark." he whispered.

"Before the Preliminaries are over. I wanna see who gets to go on to the Finals." Sasuke said.

Kakashi stood up again. "Forget it." he said.

"But-" Sasuke said looking up at him but he was cut off.

"And don't even think of arguing if we leave it any longer who knows , it may be too late. I've already cut you enough slack as it is." Kakashi said.

Sasuke turned forward again.

"Come on, let's go." Kakashi said.

Karin saw Sasuke slowly stood up and watched as he and Kakashi left the room, she looked to see that he was now clutching the left side of his neck with his right hand.

 _"What's with that mark on Sasuke's neck...?"_ Karin thought worried.

Naruto turned to the right to look at Sakura. "Hey Sakura-chan, maybe I'm just crazy but did you see any weird marks on Sasuke's neck during the fight?" he asked.

Karin looked at Naruto.

Sakura put her hands down as she gasped at what Naruto just asked. "What mark? I didn't see it." she said lying.

"Oh okay, dattebayo." Naruto said.

 _"She's lying to Oniisan.. She does know something about it..."_ Karin thought then looked away sadly.

"Okay then, let's move right on to the second match." Hayate said.

Everyone looked at the screen again and the yellow letters shuffled again until it stopped and read 'Shino Aburame vs Zaku Abumi'.

 _"So.. I guess those 2 are fighting then..."_ Karin thought.

* * *

1 hour and 32 minutes later.

Karin was walking down one of the hallways. She watched the matches of 'Shino Aburume vs Zaku Abumi' which resulted in Shino winning, 'Kankuro vs Misumi Tsurugi' which resulted in Kankuro winning, 'Ino Yamanaka vs Sakura Haruno' which resulted in both of them losing, 'Temari vs Tenten' which resulted in Temari winning, 'Shikamaru Nara vs Kin Tsuchi' which resulted in Shikamaru winning, 'Naruto Uzumaki vs Kiba Inuzuka' which resulted in Naruto winning. Karin was scared at what happened in some of the matches but she was also happy that Naruto won his match. She quietly left the room before Hayate could even call the next match.

Karin was looking for Sasuke because he left the room exhausted with Kakashi from Forest of Death and his match with Yoroi. When she was watching the second match, she suddenly sensed Sasuke's chakra had decreased.

 _"I'm glad Oniisan and Sasuke won their matches but... Why did Sasuke get that mark from...?"_ Karin thought sad and worried.

When Karin was a few feet away from the room where she sensed Sasuke, she noticed that there were 3 male Anbu, in the Konoha Anbu uniform with swords behind them, one had dark brown hair, one had sandy brown hair, and one had light brown hair, were standing near the closed door. She couldn't see who they were because they had animal masks on their faces.

"Halt." the sandy brown haired anbu said.

Karin stopped next to them.

"Why are you here?" the sandy brown one asked.

"I-I came here to see Sasuke Uchiha.. I know him.." Karin said shyly.

"I'm sure you do. You're not allow to enter." the dark brown one said.

"B-but..." Karin said sadly but was cut off.

"You can't enter." the dark brown one said.

Karin looked down sadly then she suddenly sensed Kakashi coming down the hallway.

"It's okay." Kakashi said.

The 3 male Anbu turned around to see Kakashi coming towards them.

"She can enter after all she's his friend." Kakashi said, stopping next to them.

"You gave us to not let anyone enter." the sandy brown one said.

"She's not going to be doing anything to harm him." Kakashi said. "After all, she's the Fourth Hokage's neice."

The 3 male Anbu looked at Karin again for a moment then looked back at Kakashi.

"She can enter but she has to stay in." the sandy brown one said.

"That's exceptional." Kakashi said.

Karin looked up to see that 2 of the Anbu were back away while the sandy brown one opened the door. When the door was fully opened, Kakashi walked over to Karin and stopped in front of her.

"I'll be right back, you stay in here." Kakashi said.

"H-hai..." Karin said, looking up at Kakashi.

Karin moved away from Kakashi and slowly walked into the room. As she entered in the door closed. She looked forward and gasped in sadness as she saw Sasuke lying on a bed unconscious with the white sheets over him, a hospital machine on the left side of him and a clear mask on his face. She saw that he wasn't wearing his Konoha forehead protector anymore but his forehead was wrapped in white bandages that also covered his eyes.

Karin walked over to Sasuke and stopped on the right side of him, she sensed that his chakra was low and she looked sadly to see that he was sweating a little and he was breathing exhaustedly.

"S-sasuke..." Karin whispered sadly, putting both of her hands.

Karin leaned in a little to see the mark on the left side of Sasuke's neck, she immediately noticed that a black seal circling around the mark.

 _"Wh-what happened to you while all of us where in the Forest of Death, Sasuke...?"_ Karin thought worried and sad, looking down at Sasuke's face. _"M-maybe I-If I healed you..."_

Karin slowly placed both of her hands on Sasuke's chest and started to use the Mystical Palm Technique on him.

...

10 minutes later.

Karin continued to do the Mystical Palm Technique on Sasuke, who still was unconscious, and she sensed that he was gaining a little bit of chakra.

 _"At least his chakra is increasing..."_ Karin thought.

Karin suddenly sensed a familiar chakra coming to the room, she looked up and turned her head to the left a little to look at the door. _"Could it be...?"_ she thought.

When the familiar chakra made it to the door, she heard 3 bodies drop a few seconds later but she still sensed their chakras.

Karin's eyes widened. _"H-he knocked 3 of the Anbu out...!"_ she thought.

The door opened up to reveal Kabuto and 3 unconscious Anbu behind him. Karin stopped using her Mystical Palm Technique and she turned around to face Kabuto, putting her hands down.

"Oh, so you're here with him." Kabuto said smirking.

"K-kabuto.. why did you do that to all of the Anbu...?" Karin asked shocked and scared.

"Because they wouldn't let me pass so I can take Sasuke." Kabuto said then pulled a scale from his pouch with his right hand. "Now, are you going to step away or I have to kill?"

Karin gasped in fright at what Kabuto just said, she stepped backwards until her back was against the left side of the bed. "P-please... p-please don't take Sasuke away..." she said tears forming in her eyes, then she sensed Kakashi coming back to the room.

"So I guess you do want to die." Kabuto said then ran over to Karin while raising the scalpel in his right hand.

Karin closed her eyes tightly as she waited for the attack but it never came. She slowly opened her eyes to see Kabuto standing a foot from her without his scalpel and Kakashi standing by the door with the scalpel in his right hand.

"Well, well Kakashi. Foiling my attack on her by striking from my blind spot, huh." Kabuto said smiling. "But now, are you ready to take me on? Next time you should station at least 10 guards and especially don't bring this red haired weakling."

Karin looked down sadly.

Kakashi lowered the scalpel. "You, you're not an ordinary genin are you?" he questioned. "You caught a whiff of me and immediately readied your weapon and even tried to kill Karin." then stepped forward a little. "Quite impressive."

"You over estimate me." Kabuto said.

Kakashi stopped walking. "So what do you want with Sasuke? Finding you like this I oughta hall you in for questioning." he asked.

"What just you?" Kabuto asked then turned around to face Kakashi then walked forward a little before he stopped. "I wonder if you could."

"Are you looking to take me on?" Kakashi asked. "... I know who you are, you're the Konoha Medical Core Chief's son, your name what was it, 'Kabuto Yakushi'. What are you one of Orochimaru's puppets?"

Karin opened her eyes as she looked up at Kabuto. _"Orochimaru...?"_ she thought confused.

Kabuto smirked. "Even if you did take me into custody, you'd never be able to prove I had any connection to him." he said.

"Just answer my question." Kakashi said.

"And if I say 'no'?" Kabuto asked.

"I'm the one asking the questions. Now give me some answers?" Kakashi asked.

"Look you'll have your answers soon enough even if I'm not here." Kabuto said then raised his right hand. "So why don't we skip the middle man and let me go?"

Kakashi put the scalpel in his pouch and pulled out a kunai with his right hand. "You smart alecky little brat. I'll teach you to mess around with grown ups." he said.

Kabuto reached into his pouch and pulled a curved kunai with his left hand. "Come on give me a break, don't be so arrogant. The cards are clearly in my favor here." he said then put the weird kunai in his right hand and pointed it near the left side of Karin's neck.

Karin started to shake in fear as tears were forming in her eyes.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment before Kabuto his kunai more towards Karin's neck, Kakashi quickly ran over to Kabuto, who moved to strike Karin but Kakashi knocked the curved kunai of Kabuto's right hand with his kunai in his right hand. Karin quickly ducked to the floor while Kakashi restrained Kabuto on the floor.

Kakashi and Kabuto saw the sandy brown haired anbu suddenly got up and ran to the door.

 _"So that was a clone...?!"_ Karin thought.

Karin sensed Kakashi's clone standing out in the hallway before she looked down at the light brown haired anbu.

 _"This one is the real Kabuto...?!"_ Karin thought.

Karin turned to Kakashi and before she could say anything to him the light brown haired anbu got up the upper half of himself and threw 4 kunais at one of the glass windows with his left hand before stood up and crashed through the window. Karin closed her eyes with both of her hands while Kakashi ran towards the broken window and watched as the fall, the light brown haired anbu put his left hand on his mask before he revealed himself to be Kabuto and disappeared into the trees below.

Karin slowly uncovered her eyes as the sandy brown haired anbu fell to the ground. She suddenly didn't sense any chakra in the fake Kabuto and the sandy brown haired anbu. Kakashi's clone disappeared.

 _"Th-those... th-those 2 were really... d-dead..."_ Karin thought sadly, tears forming in her eyes again.

Kakashi walked over to the fake Kabuto and crouched down beside it. "Impressive." he said checking the pulse from the fake Kabuto's neck with his left hand. "Just as I suspected the Dead Soul Jutsu: where a ninja temporarily animates and controls a dead body even transforming it's face. Kabuto even stopped his own heart and eliminated all traces of his scent in order to escape by impersonating a murdered Anbu Black Ops ninja, being raised as the adopted son of the chief medical core is a powerful asset of his. If it turns out that someone is good as him is working for Orochimaru I've got to work harder."

Kakashi pulled out of his thoughts as he turned to Karin, who was silently crying on the floor and in shock at what happened. He stood up and walked over to where she was before he crouched down beside her.

"Karin." Kakashi said.

Karin slowly looked up at Kakashi.

"You don't have to cry anymore he's gone for now." Kakashi said, trying to comfort her.

"W-w-why... W-w-why did he wanted to take Sasuke...? A-and w-who's Orochimaru...?" Karin asked.

Kakashi went silent for a moment as he looked down at Karin's sad and scared face knowing that she heard and witness the scenes between him and Kabuto, he couldn't hide it from her because she can easily sense it.

Kakashi sighed. "Orochimaru is an S-rank criminal from Konoha who fled the village because of his experiments on people." he said.

Karin's eyes widened as she gasped in shock.

"And for Sasuke." Kakashi said then turned around to look at the still unconscious Sasuke before turned back to look at Karin again. "He gave him that mark while you all were in the Forest of Death."

Karin looked down at the ground. _"So... that's why.. he was really exhausted during his battle.. a-and markings almost spread all over his body... now he's unconscious because of it..."_ she thought sadly. _"I can't believe Sasuke is suffering badly and is in much pain..."_

Karin suddenly felt a hand on her left shoulder, she looked up to see Kakashi looking down at her while his right hand was on her left shoulder.

"Don't worry, Sasuke is going to be alright, he just needs some rest, that's all." Kakashi said. "I promise I'll make sure that nothing happens to him while I train him."

Karin continued to stare at Kakashi.

"Until then, don't say anything to anyone about this." Kakashi said.

"B-but Uncle Minato-" Karin said sadly but was cut off.

"He already knows about this, okay." Kakashi said.

Karin looked down sadly again. "H-hai..." she said.

* * *

A few hours later.

Karin was walking back to her house as she was only a few feet away from it. She would have to see Zosui tomorrow because of her team lost in the Forest of Death. She was really sad about the events that happened during the Chunin Exams.

 _"I really hope Sasuke gets better soon..."_ Karin thought sadly.

As Karin was now in front of the main shoji doors, she was about to open one of them with her left hand until she sensed a familiar chakra coming towards her.

"Karin!" a female voice yelled.

Karin turned to the right to see her Aunt Kushina, in her usual outfit, was walking towards her.

"Aunt Kushina..." Karin said.

Kushina stopped right next to Karin, looking down at her. "I've heard you and your team lost in the second part of the Exam, dattebane." she said sadly. "Are you okay?"

"Hai." Karin said.

"Are you sure?" Kushina asked concerned.

"Hai, I'm just glad that Oniisan and Sasuke made it to the third Exam." Karin said smiling softly.

Kushina stared at Karin for a moment before she smiled at her. "Okay then... It's been awhile since I've taught you anything, how about I teach you a new Jutsu." she said.

"Huh, r-really...?" Karin asked.

"Of course." Kushina said.

"Um so what kind of Jutsu will you be teaching me, Aunt Kushina...?" Karin asked.

"The Walk on Water Technique." Kushina said then raised her right fist midway. "Now let's get started, dattebane."

"H-hai..." Karin said, nodding. _"But still.._ _. I hope Sasuke will be okay..."_

* * *

End of Chapter 12.

Please review.

No Flames.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13.

Please Review.

No Flames.

* * *

3 days later.

Morning.

Karin, in her usual outfit, was walking towards the Konohagakure Hospital with a white clothed wrapped bento box in both of her hands and making a sad face as she was looking down. She was sad at what her Jonin, Zosui said to her 2 days ago.

...

 _Flashback._

 _Day time._

 _One of the Training Grounds._

 _Karin was staring sadly at the ground as she standing a few feet away from Zosui, in his usual outfit, and was looking at angrily at her._

 _"You've been such a disappointment. I hope for better results than this!" Zosui said. "I guess you're just a filthy Uzumaki from Uzushiogakure... so you don't feel any loyalty for Konoha."_

 _"That's not true! I-" Karin said then looked up at Zosui but was cut off from speaking._

 _"Then prove it. Hurry up and go on a mission with your team members." Zosui said._

 _"A mission?" Karin questioned sadly._

 _"It's a C-rank." Zosui said._

 _Flashback ends._

Karin sighed sadly as she looked up, seeing that the Hospital was a few feet away. She remembered seeing Sasuke in bad condition at the 3rd test of the Chunin Exams.

 _"I wonder how Sasuke is doing right now...?"_ Karin thought sad and worried.

When Karin made it to the Hospital she was about to step inside at the front doors until she suddenly sensed a very familiar chakra at the left side of the building. She looked to the left before she walked over to the left side of the Hospital to see Sasuke, in his usual outfit, was staring out of the window, she became shocked and relieved that Sasuke was okay.

 _"Sasuke...! He's no longer in that bad state..."_ Karin thought smiling softly.

Karin stopped smiling and peeked a little further to see Sasuke had jumped from the 2 story window and on to the ground, as she stepped forward a little with her right foot so she could see him more. Sasuke was about to walk forward until he heard a sound and turned to the left side to see someone with red hair hide behind the building and a soft gasp, he walked over to see who it was.

As Karin was quietly hiding behind the building, she suddenly sensed Sasuke coming towards her location. _"Oh no...! Wh-what s-should I do...?! I-I mean.. I came to see him... b-but I..."_ she thought, closing her eyes.

Sasuke stopped a foot away from the building from where Karin was hiding. "Karin, is that you?" he asked.

Karin quickly opened her eyes as she felt her heart stop at that moment, she took a deep breath and quietly exhaled before she slowly stepped away from the building, facing Sasuke as she looked down at the ground.

"U-um, h-hello Sasuke." Karin said shyly.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked concerned.

"W-w-well I-I came to see you because... I-I was worried about you a-and... I brought you something to eat..." Karin said shyly, blushing softly.

Sasuke looked down at the bento box in Karin's hands. "Oh, thanks." he said then looked up at her smiling.

Karin shyly gave Sasuke the bento box with both hands, who took it from her, before she backed away a little and put her hands together.

"S-so... u-um, where are you going Sasuke... they usually say you have to stay in the Hospital until your parents check you out or if you're feeling better...?" Karin asked shyly.

"I'm going to train with Kakashi for the third part of the Exams, I can't just stay here and not do anything. Those people we've seen at the Exams were strong and I have to get even stronger." Sasuke said serious.

"Okay but... I know you'll get strong." Karin said shyly before she looked up at him. "And please be careful..."

"Thanks for that and I will." Sasuke said.

Sasuke and Karin stood there in silence for a moment before Sasuke turned around.

"I'll see you later." Sasuke said before he disappeared.

Karin stood there for a moment, sensing that Sasuke was moving away from her location, then looked down blushing softly. "I'll see you soon as well..." she said quietly.

* * *

1 month later.

Day Time.

Stadium

Karin was in one of the seats in the circular Stadium, she was sitting 3 rows above the upper gate. From left to right, Choji, in his usual outfit (excluding his forehead protector), Ino, in her casual outfit, an orange short sleeved shirt with a blue circular symbol on the front of the left side, black shorts, little grey hoop earrings, an orange clothed wrapped around her short ponytail (which is cut battling Sakura) and tied in a red bow, grey elbow warmers on both of her elbows, and blue sandals, and Sakura, now 13 years old and who changed back into her old usual outfit, a red qipao dress that has a zipper on the front of it and the Haruno crest on the short sleeves and on the back, tight green biker shorts, blue sandals, and her blue forehead protector was worn as a hairband, were sitting on the fourth row, a row above her. Fugaku and Mikoto, in their usual outfits were sitting 4 rows to the left and 2 down from Kushina.

Minato, in his usual outfit and Hokage headpiece on his head, was sitting in a seat next the Fourth Kazekage on the right side, wearing white robes and the Kazekage headpiece on his forehead and only his black eyes were shown but he had fair skin. Kushina, in her usual outfit, was sitting on a row below them. Hiruzen, in his usual outfit, was sitting next to Kushina on the right.

Karin watched the battles that happened in the Stadium, Naruto vs Neji which resulted in Naruto winning, Shikamaru vs Temari which resulted in Shikamaru almost defeating but decided to forfeit so Temari could win, there was suppose to be battle between Shino and Kankuro but Kankuro decided to forfeit.

 _"Oniisan is... amazing...!"_ Karin thought astounded.

She started to think about what happened on the first day of training for the third test of the Chunin Exams.

* * *

 _Flashback._

 _1 month ago._

 _Day Time._

 _Kushina and Karin were walking back to the Uzumaki clan compound as they came from the Forest as Kushina finished teaching Karin 'The Walk on Water' technique on a stream of water._

 _"Very good Karin, you've easily learned that Jutsu." Kushina said smiling._

 _"Thank you, Aunt Kushina." Karin said smiling softly._

 _"You'll do great on the next Jutsu I teach you, dattebane." Kushina said._

 _As they made it to the Uzumaki clan compound, Karin suddenly sensed a somewhat familiar chakra there._

 _"Was is this chakra... It's feels like I sensed it before, but where...?" Karin thought confused._

 _When Kushina and Karin were now a few feet away from their homes, Karin saw a tall old man that looked to be 50 years old, had fair skin, a wart on the left side of his nose, waist length spiky white hair that is tied in a ponytail with 2 shoulder length bangs framing his face, black eyes, wearing red painted lines under his eyes that has gone all the way to the bottom of his face, a short green kimono shirt, green pants, mesh armour that is visible on his wrists and ankles, green hand guards, black belt, a red haori with 2 yellow circles on each side of the top part, traditional red Japanese wooden shoes, a grey_ _horned forehead protector with the kanji for "oil" (油, abura), a black tattoo on his left palm, and a large red and green scroll on his back, and Minato (on his right side) were standing in front of Naruto, in his usual outfit._

 _She saw that Naruto was smiling as Minato and the old man were talking to him._

 _"Who is he, Aunt Kushina...?" Karin asked._

 _"That's Jiraiya-sensei, your Uncle Minato was on his team years ago." Kushina said smiling. "He's one of the Legendary Sannin like Tsunade and has been a father figure to your Uncle."_

 _"He did...?" Karin asked shocked, looking up at her Aunt Kushina.._

 _"Of course, dattebane!" Kushina said then looked down at Karin. "When you and Naruto were babies he saw you 2 but he visited Naruto more when he was a little kid."_

 _Karin looked at Jiraiya. "No wonder his chakra was familiar..." she thought. "But.. why is he here...?" she asked._

 _"Jiraiya-sensei is going to be training Naruto for the third part of the Exams but your Uncle will help him a little especially with the Rasengan, dattebane." Kushina said smiling._

 _Karin now looked at Naruto to see that he was really happy, she smiled softly to herself. "You're going to do great in the Exams, Oniisan..." she thought._

 _Flashback ends._

* * *

Karin was starting to hear everyone talking about 'Why isn't Sasuke Uchiha here?' and etc. When people started booing about Sasuke not being here, Karin looked down sadly at the Arena to see Genma Shiranui, a 29 year old fair skin man, had shoulder length brown hair which hands down from his face, brown eyes, wearing his usual outfit, a dark blue Forehead Protector which he wears backwards like a bandanna, the Konohagakure flak jacket uniform, white tape around his lower legs, dark blue sandals, and a brown senbon hanging from his mouth, holding a silver stop watch in his right hand and was looking down at it, and Naruto, in his usual outfit, was pacing around angry and annoyed, and Shikamaru, in his usual outfit, standing next to Naruto lazily with his right hand on his right hip.

 _"Hurry Sasuke-kun, hurry."_ Sakura thought sadly, her eyes closed tightly as her hands were together near her mouth.

10 minutes ago, Karin saw her Uncle Minato give Sasuke a 10 minute time limit to make it, but it has been 9 minutes.

 _"Sasuke... he has to come quickly... or else you'll lose..."_ Karin thought sadly then she suddenly sensed Kakashi and Sasuke coming quickly to the Arena. _"He's... he's here..."_ her eyes widened shock and relieved.

Karin saw Genma stopped looking at the stop watch and to the crowd. "Alright the time limit has expired, so I'm officially calling this match-!" he yelled but was cut off.

Everything stopped for a moment as the wind started to blow as leaves surrounded Kakashi, in his usual outfit, with his hands in his pockets and Sasuke, now 13 years old and in his temporary outfit, a black one piece suit with the Uchiha clan crest on the back, black belts and white tape wrapped around both of his legs and left arm, grey elbow warmers, white tape and a black shuriken holster wrapped around his left leg, his blue Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, a small brown pouch behind him, and black sandals, which looks similar to his usual outfit. Kakashi and Sasuke were standing back-to-back. Naruto stopped pacing and stood still.

Everyone now stared at Kakashi and Sasuke in surprise, Genma smirked at them. Karin saw that Sasuke's bangs grew a little.

"Sorry we're late, you wouldn't believe the traffic." Kakashi said smiling, his eyes closed.

 _"Sasuke looks amazing... his chakra has even increased a lot over this month... but..."_ Karin thought looked over at Gaara. _"... Will it be enough to defeat Gaara...?"_

Gaara, in his usual outfit, was standing next to his older siblings, Temari and Kankuro, in their usual outfits, on the right side.

Naruto smiled at Kakashi and Sasuke. Sakura started to smile, sweat on her face as she lowered her hands.

The leaves stopped blowing as they were down on the ground.

Genma now had his hands in his pockets. "And you are?" he asked.

Sasuke looked at Genma. "I'm Sasuke.. Uchiha." he said.

Karin sensed 2 very familiar chakras behind her.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun ." Sakura said smiling.

"So he made it in time." Lee said.

Choji, Ino, and Sakura turned to the left and smiled as they saw Guy, in his usual outfit, and Lee, in a blue robe with light blue trimmings, and brown sandals, had a brown wooden stick in his left hand. Guy had his right hand on Lee's right shoulder.

"Rock Lee!" Sakura said.

Ino gasped.

Karin was now hearing mostly everyone cheer for Sasuke then looked down to see Naruto smirkin at Naruto.

"Heh, so you decided to show up after all! I was betting you wouldn't come, cuz sooner or later you would have to face me, dattebayo?!" Naruto yelled.

 _"Oniisan... you don't have to hide it... I-I was worried about Sasuke as well..."_ Karin thought shyly.

Sasuke turned and smirked at Naruto. "So what about you? Did you win?" he asked.

"You know it, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled smiling.

"Heh, well don't get too full of yourself, you're an Usuratonkachi." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Naruto and Sasuke, smiling softly. _"At least... they're finally getting along..."_ she thought relieved.

Kakashi rubbed the back of his head with his right hand. "Sorry if we kept you waiting but uh, how late are we?" he asked. "I mean it's not like Sasuke's.. well disqualified or anything right?" smiling nervously.

Naruto and Shikamaru looked at Genma.

Genma looked down at the ground, his eyes closed. "Like master, like pupil even down to your lousy sense of time." he said.

Kakashi and Sasuke looked at Genma.

"Well.. what about it?" Kakashi asked.

"You know, you were so late that we extended the deadline for you twice in fact and it's lucky for you we did cause you just made it and no he's not disqualified." Genma said, looking at Kakashi.

Kakashi closed his eyes, smiling nervously again. "Oh, that's a relief, you had me worried there for a minute." he said opening his eyes and looking down at Sasuke, removing his right hand from his neck. "So we're okay." then looked up where Sasuke was looking at.

Karin saw that Sasuke was looking up at Gaara, serious, and she also saw Gaara looking down at Sasuke. She suddenly sensed Gaara's chakra has become even colder, she started to shake a little.

 _"Can Sasuke... really defeat Gaara...?"_ Karin thought sad and worried, looking down at Sasuke again.

Naruto looked up at Gaara serious. "Just make sure you don't lose to this guy." he said.

"Got it." Sasuke said.

Naruto looked at Sasuke again. "... Hey Sasuke!" he yelled.

Sasuke looked at Naruto.

"Don't lose.. cause I wanna fight you myself, dattebayo!" Naruto said.

Naruto and Sasuke stared at each other for a moment.

"Got it." Sasuke said.

Naruto smiled at Sasuke.

Karin looked behind her to see Ino stood up, raising her right hand in the air and her left fist near her face as she cheered for Sasuke.

Karin turned back around to see Sasuke again. _"I guess everyone wants to see Sasuke fight..."_ she thought.

Ino sat back down as she lowered her hands then looked at Sakura. "Sakura, what's it like to be on such an amazing team?" she asked.

Karin started to listen to the conversation.

"What do you mean?" Sakura asked, looking at Ino.

Ino smiled. "You know, first Naruto surprises everyone by beating Neji Hyuga, ah and then you've got Sasuke, whose like this Superstar, everyone wants to see his match, you're like the all-star team!" she said.

Karin looked at Naruto and Sasuke for a moment, thinking about all of the people they faced like Naruto defeating Kiba and Akamaru, Sasuke defeating Yoroi, and Naruto defeating Neji, before she thought of something.

 _"I know I should have faith in Sasuke to win... but... I'm scared of what Gaara will do to Sasuke... just like I've heard what he did to Lee in the Preliminaries... and..."_ Karin thought sadly then looked over at Fugaku and Mikoto. _"What will Sasuke's parents do.. if they saw him with those markings on him...?"_ then looked back down at Sasuke.

Genma looked up at Gaara. "Alright Gaara, come down here!" he said.

Shikamaru started to walk away, looking at Naruto. "Come on Naruto, they don't need us here!" he said then turned forward.

Naruto looked at Shikamaru. "Oh uh." he said then turned to look at Sasuke.

"Let's go and I'm gonna take the stairs this time if you don't mind." Shikamaru said.

Naruto looked at Shikamaru. "Come on, are you still upset that I gave you a little push! You outta be grateful, dattebayo!" he said before he followed Shikamaru.

Karin started to become even more frightened when she sensed Gaara's chakra has become colder again. _"I have a bad feeling about Sasuke battling Gaara..."_ she thought, seeing Gaara smirking evily before he walked away then looked down at Sasuke again.

...

Almost 2 minutes later.

Karin's eyes widened as she sensed 2 chakras disappeared and also Gaara near them. _"I-I... I-I can't believe it... he killed those people a-and... Oniisan and Shikamaru are near... his location..."_ she thought, putting her hands together on her lap, closing her eyes. _"Oniisan... you and Shikamaru have to get away from now..."_

Karin sensed Gaara was now close to Naruto and Shikamaru's location, she felt her heart stopped beating for a second but to her confusion and relief Gaara was moving away from Naruto and Shikamaru's location.

Karin opened her eyes as she looked into the Arena to see that Kakashi was no longer standing next to Sasuke, a few seconds later she turned to see Gaara standing in the Arena before he walked over to Genma and Sasuke then stopped near them.

"Okay, here we are at last." Genma said.

 _"Please... please be careful battling him, Sasuke... He's really dangerous..."_ Karin thought, looking at Sasuke.

Genma pulled his hands out of his pockets. "Alright, the rules for this match are the same as in the Preliminaries, the match continues until one of you dies or admits defeat. However, I can stop the match but that's solely my decision." he said.

Karin shivered a little when she saw Gaara laugh. She suddenly sensed Kakashi standing a few feet behind her. She turned her head to the left to see him.

Guy and Sakura turned to see Kakashi standing behind them.

"Hello Guy, how are you feeling Lee?" Kakashi asked then placed his right hand on his face. "Are you alright?"

Lee turned around a little to see Kakashi.

"Kakashi." Guy said.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura yelled then looked up sadly at him.

Choji and Ino turned around to look up at Kakashi.

Kakashi smiled nervously, closing his eyes. "Oh right, sorry about that. You must've been worried. Sorry for not keeping in touch." he said then opened his eyes, lowering his right hand.

 _"I know.. Sakura was worried about Sasuke just like I was... but..."_ Karin thought.

Sakura continued to stare at Kakashi, becoming serious.

Karin saw Ino look at Sakura annoyed.

 _"Uh oh, Sakura's gonna get really mad."_ Ino thought.

Sakura turned forward, looking down sadly at the ground. "I don't mind, that's okay." she said.

Karin now saw Ino look at Sakura with concern.

Sakura looked down at Sasuke to see if he had that mark on the left side of his neck. _"It's too hard to see from here."_ she thought then looked down. _"Sasuke-kun."_

Karin turned forward to look at Sasuke. _"I see... Sakura is looking for that mark on Sasuke..."_ she thought.

Kakashi looked at Sakura, his hands in his pockets.

"Listen Sensei." Sakura said.

"Hm?" Kakashi asked confused.

"You know that there was a mark on Sasuke's neck, right?" Sakura asked.

There was a long pause.

"Well is it?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi looked down at the ground. "It's nothing to worry about." he said.

Sakura looked at Kakashi, gasping.

 _"A mark?"_ Ino thought confused, still looking at Sakura.

Ino looked at Kakashi then looked back at Sakura.

Sakura smiled at Kakashi.

"So that's that." Kakashi said.

Sakura nodded then turned forward.

Everyone turned forward except Kakashi and Guy who were now talking about something.

 _"All of what Kakashi said isn't completely true... And Sasuke you have to be extremely careful..."_ Karin thought worried.

"Both of you to the middle." Genma said, raised his right hand a little.

Sasuke and Gaara moved to the middle, staring at each other. Everyone became quiet.

Genma raised his right hand high in the air. "Begin!" he yelled, quickly lowering his right hand before moving away.

Sasuke and Gaara made a stance before sand started to come out of Gaara's guord and into the air. Karin watched as Sasuke jumped backwards to get away from Gaara.

 _"So... that's the sand Oniisan said that defeated Lee...?"_ Karin thought frightened.

 _"So this is the sand Kakashi talked about?"_ Sasuke thought.

Karin saw Gaara gasped and clutched his face with his right hand, closing his eyes tightly.

 _"What's happening to this guy...?"_ Karin thought.

Karin didn't what the whispered but she saw him open his eyes smirking at the end and more sand come out of his guord. Gaara removed his right hand from his face and raised both of his hands in the air before he closed his eyes again and his sand suddenly fell to the ground. Karin saw Sasuke looked serious and confused.

Karin now saw Gaara open his eyes and his sand rose from the ground, folding his arms. Everyone was quiet for a moment.

"Here goes." Sasuke said before he quickly reached into his shuriken holster with his right hand before he threw a shuriken at Gaara, who blocked it with his sand which turned into a sand clone of himself. Sasuke ran at Gaara, who now threw a lot of sand at him, but Sasuke quickly dodged by jumping into the air and threw another shuriken at him with his right hand and kicked the sand clone with his left leg, which removed the sand clone's arms. Sasuke landed on his hands a stood up on his feet before he punched the sand clone in the neck with his left fist but it was sinking into the sand so he quickly used his right hand to smash the sand clone's head, which exploded.

Karin saw Sasuke ran over to Gaara again and was about to punch him in the face but the blocked him, she saw Sasuke smirked before he disappeared.

 _"Huh...?!"_ Karin thought, gasping in surprise.

Sasuke reappeared behind Gaara, who turned around to see him. Sasuke punched Gaara in the face with his right fist, sending Gaara flying a few feet away.

"So that's your sand armour huh?" Sasuke asked smirking, raising his right hand.

Gaara looked at Sasuke as his face was cracking a little.

"Come on." Sasuke said.

 _"Sasuke... really has gotten fast over this month... I sensed his chakra has increased but... I never knew he's become this fast..."_ Karin thought astounded.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"Come on." Sasuke said again.

Gaara just sat there on the ground.

Sasuke lowered his right hand as he became serious. "If you won't do it then I will." he said before quickly ran over to Gaara then disappeared.

Gaara rose more of his sand from the ground but Sasuke disappeared again and reappeared behind Gaara, sliding on the ground.

"He's fast." Lee said.

Gaara turned around and moved his sand to throw at Sasuke, who dodged it and kicked him in the face with his right leg, sending Gaara flying a few feet away from and on the ground again, his sand following him.

Karin looked at Sasuke to see that he was smirking again.

"What's the matter Gaara?! Is that all you got?!" Sasuke asked.

Gaara's top half stood up from the ground, his eyes closed as his sand surrounded him.

 _"Amazing."_ Ino and Sakura both thought.

Sasuke straightened up before he raised his right hand in the air again. "I'm going to tear off all you armour." he said before he lowered his right hand and ran over to Gaara again.

Gaara stood up from the ground and his sand circled him. Sasuke ran around Gaara at top speed.

 _"Incredible... Almost like Uncle Minato..."_ Karin thought.

 _"His speed's basically the same as Lee's with his weights removed."_ Guy thought.

 _"That's exactly like Lee's taijutsu. Sasuke-kun has way more speed than he ever before."_ Sakura thought astonished.

Sasuke ran over to Gaara and kicked him in the face and grabbed Gaara's shirt with both of his hands before he kneed him in the stomach with his right knee and released him before he jumped backwards, panting from exhaustion a little.

 _"Remarkable Sasuke, really remarkable! You're truly a genius, a greater ninja than I ever imagined. I mean how many years did it take me to attain that speed? And you achieved the same result in just a month!"_ Lee thought.

Karin sensed that Sasuke's chakra has decreased a little. _"I guess... he needs chakra to maintain his speed..."_ she thought.

Lee saw Sasuke panting in exhaustion and also Gaara was on the ground panting as well.

 _"But.. it sure looks like it takes a lot of stamina for him to maintain that speed."_ Lee thought.

"His training.. what did you 2 do?" Guy asked Kakashi.

Kakashi looked at Guy. "Huh?" he asked.

"To get to such a level.. in a mere month?" Guy asked.

Kakashi looked forward. "Sasuke has copied Lee's taijutsu with his Sharingan.. so during the taijutsu training I did with Sasuke I had him imagine Lee's movement and copy it." he said.

 _"No wonder Sasuke was moving like that..."_ Karin thought.

Lee perked up at that.

"Sasuke mastered that taijutsu only because he knew Lee. Of course, Sasuke had to work very hard to master it even with his Sharingan." Kakashi said.

 _"But... Can Sasuke really defeat Gaara with just Taijutsu alone... I know he has Genjutsu and Ninjutsu but... I don't know if they can work on...?"_ Karin thought.

 _"But that sand ninja, he is way too tough for that. He cannot be taken down with only that taijutsu."_ Lee thought.

Guy looked at Kakashi. _"If Kakashi saw the battle between Gaara and Lee.. then why did he?"_ he thought. _"After all, that Taijutsu Sasuke learned from Lee can't suddenly work against an opponent that Lee himself couldn't defeat. But Kakashi must've known this so why did he have Sasuke master only Taijutsu?"_

Karin saw Gaara stood up as the sand surrounded him. _"What is he going to do now...?"_ she thought.

Gaata made a hand sign with both of his hands together near his mouth, causing his sand to slowly cover him up in a circular shape.

 _"Wh-what... wh-what is he doing...?"_ Karin thought shocked.

Sasuke gasped in surprise at what Gaara was doing.

 _"Sasuke has to do something quickly...!"_ Karin thought.

Karin suddenly saw Sasuke ran over to the Gaara and raised his right fist. Gaara completely sealed himself in the sand before Sasuke could even punch him. When Sasuke punched the sand with his right fist, spiky like sand came out of it, he looked at the sand as he panted and bleed a little from the right side of his face, arm, and leg.

Sasuke lowered his right fist as he jumped backwards and the spikes retreated back into the sand. Karin suddenly saw Sasuke active his Sharingan.

 _"So he's used all the sand as a shield. Because of the sand density, I didn't think he could create something this hard."_ Sasuke thought.

 _"What are going to do, Sasuke...? I can feel that Gaara's planning something bad... Y-you have to do something quickly..."_ Karin thought, worried and sad as she saw blood on Sasuke.

"So he's absolutely protected." Sasuke said serious.

Everyone became shocked. Karin suddenly sensed Naruto and Shikamaru were coming towards her location now.

"The sand has covered his entire body." Lee said.

 _"What an affective vincent defense. Will Sasuke be able to get around it?"_ Guy thought.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto yelled.

Kakashi, Guy, Choji, Karin, Ino, and Sakura turned around to see Naruto and Shikamaru running towards them.

"Oniisan..." Karin said.

"Naruto." Lee said, smiling at him.

Naruto and Shikamaru stopped running as Shikamaru was crouching up the stairs and Naruto was clutching the silver metal rail with his left hand, both of them were panting.

 _"Is there something...? Was it about the 2 people Gaara killed recently...?"_ Karin thought frightened.

"What is it, Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Sensei please, you just have to stop this match right away!" Naruto yelled.

 _"It's because... Gaara might kill Sasuke..."_ Karin thought sadly.

"What?" Kakashi asked confused.

"The guy Sasuke is completely different than the rest of us! He's about as far from normal as you can get, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled.

"Naruto! Slow down! What are trying to say?!" Ino asked yelling.

"He thinks his point in life is to kill people! Don't you see?! If this continues Sasuke will die, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled.

Karin turned around forward to look at Sasuke then she looked at circular sand Gaara was in and she suddenly sensed that his chakra has gotten colder.

 _"Oniisan... is right...!"_ Karin thought frightened then she saw some sand forming on the right side of the circular shape sand. _""Wh-what is he doing...?!"_

Some of the sand formed an eye.

 _"Is that really... an eye...?!"_ Karin thought shocked. _"He must have formed it to see what Sasuke will be doing..."_

"You've gotta believe me!" Naruto yelled, raising both of his fist near his chest.

Almost everyone looked at Naruto for a moment not saying anything. Kakashi turned forward to see the match between Sasuke and Gaara.

"Relax. No need to panic." Kakashi said, closing his eyes.

"Huh?" Naruto questioned confused.

Everyone except Karin stared at Kakashi confused.

"You know, Sasuke and I weren't just goofing around. There's a reason we were so late getting here." Kakashi said.

Karin became a little confused when she saw that Sasuke was now smirking as he wiped the right side of his cheek with the back of his right hand. _"I wonder what... Sasuke is thinking right now...?"_ she thought.

Sasuke removed his right hand from the right side of his face and he ran over to Gaara yelling before he threw 3 kunai at him with his but they only fell to the ground when it hit the circular shape sand. He jumped into the air and ran over to Gaara again but the sand spikes came out and tried to strike him, who dodged them and he punched the circular shape sand with his left fist and jumped backwards before the spikes could strike him. Sasuke quickly dodged the sand spikes attacks and jumped into the air, landing on top of the circular shape sand and jumping off of it before the spikes could try to strike him again, he jumped a few feet away from it.

 _"Well that won't work. Big surprise."_ Sasuke thought then he looked closely at the circular shape sand with his Sharingan. _"I don't know what the hell you're up to, you're gonna stay in there forever?! Well that's fine with me. Stall all you want, I can use the time getting ready for what I've got in store for you."_ covering most of his face with his hands.

 _"I wonder how Sasuke will break through his defense this time...?"_ Karin thought, seeing Sasuke unbutton a black belt from his left hand with his right hand.

"Sensei." Sakura said, looking at Kakashi.

Kakashi opened his eyes and turned to the right to look at Sakura. "Hm?" he asked.

"You said there was a good reason you were late. What were you doing?" Sakura asked.

"Hm, well it's kind of a long story." Kakashi said.

"Oh come on will you please do something this is no time for talking, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled, his hands in the air.

Kakashi turned forward. "You're right so shut up and watch." he said.

"Huh?" Naruto asked confused.

Everyone except Karin looked at Kakashi curiously.

"Keep your eye on Sasuke, he's about to surprise you." Kakashi said.

Karin saw Sasuke backflip away from Gaara and jumped high on to one of the Stadium walls, crouching down before he started making the Monkey Dragon Rat Bird Ox Snake Dog Tiger Monkey hand signs and grabbed his left hand with right hand.

 _"What is Sasuke doing...?"_ Karin thought, sensing chakra was slowly building up in Sasuke's left hand.

Karin suddenly sensed Gaara's chakra was getting colder by the second, she started to shake a little. _"Sasuke... what ever you're going to do... please hurry...!"_ she thought worried.

A minute later.

Karin suddenly saw lightning forming in Sasuke's left hand. _"Wh-what is that technique...?! I've never seen it before...?!"_ she thought shocked.

"Hm? But it can't be." Guy asked confused then turned to the right side to look at Kakashi.

"If you wondered why I always insisted on training Sasuke myself, now you know. It's because he's like me." Kakashi said.

Sasuke smirked as he let go of his left hand with his right hand and moved it to his upper left shoulder, which caused cement walls to crack and fall, and he stood up before he ran down the wall.

Guy turned forward. "A physical activation. I see, that's what you were doing all this time. You were building his speed up to the level required." he said.

"Exactly." Kakashi said smiling, closing his eyes.

 _"That's a... great technique..."_ Karin thought astounded.

"It's amazing. His chakra is actually visible. How's that even possible?" Sakura asked astonished.

 _"He's really mastered that technique already?"_ Guy thought.

Sasuke made it to the ground and ran to Gaara.

 _"So, this is what the Uchiha are capable of?"_ Guy thought.

"Woah, I've never seen him do that before!" Naruto said.

"That bizarre noise, what sort of technique is it?" Sakura asked.

"It's a job." Guy said.

"A what?" Ino asked.

Choji, Ino, and Sakura looked up at Guy.

"But this job, is a job like no other. It's the only weapon in Kakashi's weapon in arsenal he didn't copy from someone else." Guy said, looking slightly to the right side at Kakashi.

"Huh?" Naruto asked.

Guy turned forward again. "It's the weapon of choice for assassinations. The secret of the job is in the speed with which it is delivered and a Ninja's ability to focus it's chakra at the point of impact. Once these 2 elements, speed and focus, have attained a certain level, the chakra actually becomes visible and gives off the distinctive sound that you hear, like birds chirping." he said.

Sasuke dodged the sand spikes coming out of it and hit the front of the circular shape sand, piercing the front of it with his left hand.

"It is this sound that gives the technique it's name... Chidori, 1 thousand birds." Guy said.

Everyone especially Karin became and astounded as they watched Sasuke pierced right through Gaara's circular shape sand.

 _"S-sasuke master this strong and powerful technique, Chidori... in less than a month... truly incredible...!"_ Karin thought shocked.

Sasuke looked up smirking at the circular shape sand.

"Also known as 'Lightning Blade's." Guy said.

Choji, Ino, and Sakura looked up at Guy again.

"Why's that?" Sakura asked.

Guy looked at Kakashi again. "It got that name because Kakashi once used it to cut a bolt of Lightning in half before it can touch the ground." he said then looked forward.

 _"Wow, cutting Lightning in half."_ Sakura thought shocked.

 _"Yeah right, these old guys and their war stories."_ Ino thought, not believing it for a second.

 _"Woah."_ Choji thought.

"The whether called 'thousand birds' or 'Lightning Blade', it's a technique of unimaginable power, requiring inhuman levels of speed and chakra. But once perfected it transforms a Ninja's arm into an indestructible and invincible sword." Guy said then looked at Kakashi again. "A dangerous technique not to be taught lightly."

Kakashi looked at Guy. "Yeah, you're one to talk." he said then crouched down and placed his right hand on the right side of his face. "Hm, right Lee?" smiling.

Lee looked at Kakashi.

"Well whatever, I don't understand a word of it. All I know is, it's looks awesome!" Sakura said smiling, facing forward.

Ino looked at Sakura.

Lee turned forward. _"I understand it well enough, even with a running start at top speed I would never use a direct frontal attack with a jab against my opponent or rather not."_ he thought then closed his eyes before opening them up slightly. _"I know that I would be opening myself to a counter blow and I could not trust in my ability to avoid it, that requires a keeness of instincts, that I just do not have. In short, I envy you Sasuke, when we fought I told you it was not enough to be able to watch and imitate, understanding a technique is useless if you do not have the physical ability to pull it off. I felt so superior but now you have trained your body to move at a speed that equals or even surpasses my own and of course you have something else the Sharingan!"_

"Now, I've got you." Sasuke said serious.

 _"Huh...? Something isn't right..."_ Karin thought, sensing something bad.

Sasuke became confused as he placed his right hand on his left shoulder again.

Moments later Gaara screamed within the circular shape sand.

"Ahhh! Blood! It's my Blood!" Gaara yelled.

Karin became frightened again. _"Sasuke...! You have to get your arm out of there quickly...! Something's going to happen...!"_ she thought, sensing that Gaara's chakra is increasing and is becoming dark and colder. _"Y-you have to hurry...!"_

Sasuke struggled to get his left arm out but when that didn't work he used Chidori to try to crack it but that didn't work either. He struggled once more before he was free and he leaped away backwards. A huge flesh sand arm with blue lines on it tried to grab Sasuke but it stopped midway.

Everyone gasped in shock at the flesh sand arm.

"What's that?!" Guy asked.

Sasuke crouched down on the ground in pain, clutching his left arm, which some of the tape and black belts were ripped off, with his right hand. The flesh sand arm smashed the ground before it retreated back into the circular shape sand.

Sasuke sweated a little as he looked to see a the flesh sand arm move around and a strange eye that had yellow irides and pupil that took the shape of a 4 pointed star with 4 black dots around it. There was a loud growl that from inside of it, making Sasuke look in surprise.

Karin suddenly sensed that Gaara's chakra was decreasing and the circular shape sand was cracking before it turned back into regular sand, reveal a barely standing Gaara who was clutching his bloody left shoulder with his right hand, panting.

After a moment Karin's eyes widened in shock. _"Huh, K-kabuto...?!"_ she thought then she sensed lots of Ninja that weren't from Konohagakure.

Karin felt something weird then she looked up to see white feathers falling from the sky. She looked from side to side see many people were falling asleep, except for Kakashi, Guy, Sakura and other skilled Jonins. _"This is a Genjutsu...!"_ she thought, feeling a little bit of it's affects, she turned forward. _"No... I can't fall into it..."_ then she put her hands together and closed her eyes. "Kai..." the white feathers moved away from her.

Karin opened her eyes and heard a loud explosion, she quickly looked up to see grey smoke where the Minato and the Fourth Kazekage were at. _"No, Uncle Minato...!"_ she thought worried then she saw Hiruzen run over and hopped on to the roof and into the grey smoke.

"Minato!" Kushina yelled.

4 people in cloaks and one in a cream colored cloak were running towards 4 more people in black cloaks, all were wearing masks. Karin saw the 5 talk with the 4 briefly before the 4 went below. Her eyes widened as she suddenly sensed 5 chakras were decreasing rapidly to nothing.

 _"Wh... Wh-what's going on...?!"_ Karin thought scared.

Karin now saw Minato, The Fourth Kazekage, and Hiruzen were in the center and top of the building, and 4 Sound Ninjas were at the corners of the roof, the 1st was a tall boy that looked to be 14, had dark brown skin, 6 arms, an extra eye on his forehead, short black shaggy hair tied up in a ponytail, black eyes, wearing a black sleeveless shirt under a grey sleeveless tunic that bore the Sound symbol on the lower part, black skin-tight shorts, black arm warmers, a black clothed Otogakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, black sandals with black calf leg warmers with white tape wrapped around them, and a purple rope like belt wrapped around his waist, the 2nd was another boy with another head and half a upper body sticking to the back that looked to be 14, had fair skin, straight shoulder lengths light grey-blue hair, bangs that covered the sides of their face (one covered the right side and the lower one covered the left side), black eyes, wearing both green lipstick with dark markings around their eyes, a black short sleeved shirt under a long sleeved brown shirt that bore the Sound symbol on the bottom part, black skin tight shorts, black arm warmers, black sandals, black calf length leg warmers with white tape wrapped around them, a purple rope like belt wrapped around his waist, and dark red beamed necklace was on the neck and a large green scroll was on the back of the upper one, the 3rd was a slender built girl that looked to be 14, had fair skin, untamed mid back length dark pink hair one bang that fell in between her face, brown eyes, a black short sleeved shirt, under a tan elbow length tunic that bore the Sound symbol on the bottom of it, black skin tight shorts, black arm warmers, black sandals, black calf length leg warmers with white tape wrapped around them, a black hat with pipe like stripes and white bandaged sides, a rope like belt wrapped around her waist, and the 4th was a big and imposing boy that looked to be 14, had fair skin, 3 tufts of orange hair on his head: a mohawk of sorts that ran down the middle and 2 similar styled tufts of hair at the sides, slanted orange eyes, wearing a beige colored sleeveless tunic that bore the Sound symbol on the bottom of it, black 3/4 lengthed pants that stopped just below his knees, black arm warmers, a necklace that is composed red circular pieces separating long metallic pieces, black sandals with mid calf length leg warmers with white tape wrapped around them, and purple rope like belt wrapped around his waist. They all had black curse marks on their necks just like Sasuke.

"Hm, finally it's my time." the first one said smiling, his front left arm on his left hip.

"We've all been waiting for this. I was so frustrated hiding in that disguise." the 2nd one said smirking.

"You're all sweaty too. So gross." the 3rd one said, her right hand on her right hip.

"Come on, we're all friends here, right?" the 4th one said.

 _"There Otogakure Ninja... they look weird..."_ Karin thought then she saw the 4 of them make hand signs. _"What are they doing...?!"_

"Ninja Art: 4 Flames Formation!" the 4 Otogakure Ninja yelled, which created a pure purple flame barrier, sealing themselves, Minato, The Fourth Kazekage, and Hiruzen inside.

 _"Oh no...! Uncle Minato...!"_ Karin thought worried and scared. She suddenly heard a grunting sound she looked down at the side to see Sasuke and Gaara. _"Sasuke...!"_

Karin slowly rose from her seat and walked down the stairs while avoiding shurikens, kunais, and Jonins fighting before she took a deep breath and jumped into the Arena and landed on the ground. She ran over to Sasuke and crouched down on the right side of him.

"S-sasuke..." Karin said softly and sadly to him.

Sasuke looked at Karin. "Karin, are you alright?" he asked.

"H-hai.. but what about you...?" Karin asked.

"Don't worry, I'm fine." Sasuke said, inactivating his Sharingan. "What's going on?"

"I don't know but.. mostly everyone was placed under a Genjutsu..." Karin said then looked up to a 3 giant dark green snakes wearing red bandannas around their necks were breaking the wall.

Karin looked at Sasuke to see that he was looking up at something, she looked up to where Sasuke was looking to see that he was looking Minato, The Fourth Kazekage, and Hiruzen in the Purple Flame barrier, Kushina standing on one of the sides, and some of the Sunagakure Ninjas on the roof. She saw one touched the purple flame barrier and was set on fire before rolling off the roof, she sensed that he was dad as he no longer had chakra.

 _"The Sand Village...?! W-why are they attacking us...?!"_ Karin thought shocked and confused.

"What's going on here?" Sasuke asked.

"Stop it Gaara!" Temari yelled.

Sasuke and Karin turned to Temari and Kankuro near Gaara, Temari was on his left side and Kankuro was on his right side.

"I must kill him!" Gaara said then walked forward a little then stopped.

Kankuro stepped in Gaara's way. "There's no point in continuing this fight." he said.

"That's right! Don't forget our mission." Temari said.

Gaara stepped forward and placed his right hand on Kankuro's right arm. "Out of my way!" he yelled smirking, pushing him out of his way.

Karin gasped in fear as she grabbed on to Sasuke's right arm with both of her hands.

A Sunagakure Jonin suddenly appeared in front of Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara. It was a very tall man that looked to be 30, had brown skin, bald, black eyes, wearing 2 distinctive red markings on the right side of his face, a cream colored turban that covered the left side of his head, blue clothed Sunagakure Forehead Protector on his forehead (which was over the turban), Sunagakure flak jacket uniform, and dark brown sandals.

"What're you 3 doing now?! Can't you see the operation is already underway!" the Sand Jonin yelled, looking at them.

Gaara closed his eyes as he clutched his head with both hands, groaning in pain.

The Sand Jonin looked at Gaara then turned forward.

Genma suddenly appeared in front of Sasuke and Karin.

"What is going on?! Tell me!" Sasuke yelled.

When Gaara groaned even more, the Sand Jonin, Temari, and Kankuro looked at him.

"Gaara!" Temari yelled.

Gaara fell on his knees.

"What's wrong?" Kankuro asked him.

Temari crouched down to Gaara. "He's wounds worse than I thought!" she said then looked up at the Sand Jonin. "And his chakra is almost completely drained away!"

 _"Wh-what's going to happen to him...?!"_ Karin thought.

"Wait, what about using that-" Kankuro said but was cut off.

"It's impossible right now." Temari said to Kankuro.

"You fool! It's all because you tried to transform before the signal was given." the Sand Jonin said.

Kankuro looked at the Sand Jonin. "So what do we now?! We need Gaara for this!" he yelled.

The Sand Jonin looked down at Gaara. "Gaara's the trump card Sunagakure, we have to get him to play his part no matter what!" he said. "Alright, for now you 2 take Gaara and tend to his sounds. As soon as his chakra has been restored the operation will continue."

"You got it." Kankuro said before he crouched down and grabbed Gaara's right arm with his right hand and placed it over his neck, carrying him.

Temari stood up again and turned to the Sand Jonin. "And you Sensei?" she asked.

The Sand Jonin turned forward. "I'm going to take care of these guys." he said.

Karin gasped in fear as she backed away a little.

"Do you really think that things will go according to your plan?" Genma asked.

"I'll make sure that they do." the Sand Jonin said.

There was a long pause. A sweat ran down Genma's face before it fell to the ground.

"Go!" the Sand Jonin yelled.

"Yes, right." Temari said.

Temari and Kankuro jumped into the air, taking Gaara with them as they hopped over the Arena wall.

The Sand Jonin smirked at Genma when he became serious.

"And is the host of this party Orochimaru?" Genma asked.

Sasuke looked at Genma.

Karin gasped at that name. _"Orochimaru...? That's the person Kakashi asked Kabuto that day...!"_ she thought remembering.

"Don't know and don't care. Now let's hear things up, huh?" the Sand Jonin said.

"Sasuke." Genma said.

Sasuke and Karin looked up at Genma.

"I'm sorry but the Chunin Exam ends here for you." Genma said.

Sasuke gasped a little at what Genma just said.

"You've already achieved Chunin Level, you're a Konoha Shinobi so put your training to good use." Genma.

 _"H-he doesn't mean..."_ Karin thought sadly.

"In other words I'm suppose to take down Gaara right? Our match continues?" Sasuke questioned.

Karin looked at Sasuke sadly.

"Just be careful, it's the real thing now not a match." Genma said.

"What I must do is the same." Sasuke said looking side to side.

Sasuke tried to get up Karin immediately pulled him down, he looked at her.

"Please don't go Sasuke..." Karin said sadly to him.

"I have to go stop him." Sasuke said to her. He suddenly saw tears forming in her arms.

Karin looked down, closing her eyes. "S-sasuke... my Uncle Minato is battling the Kazekage with the Third Hokage right and... I-I don't know what's going to happen... when I saw you battling Gaara I sensed his chakra was cold and dark but also powerful especially when I sensed him that sand... I-I don't want to lose you... like I possibly will lose Uncle Minato..." she said sadly, tears coming out of her eyes.

Sasuke looked at Karin softly and sadly. "Don't worry Karin.. I won't die." he said.

Karin suddenly opened her eyes as she looked up at Sasuke surprised.

"I'm going to come back alive and defeat Gaara before can destroy the Village." Sasuke said softly.

"Y-you promise.. you will?" Karin said softly.

"Of course." Sasuke said nodding.

Karin looked down for a moment before she slowly and sadly released Sasuke with both hands, who stood up from the ground then looked down at her.

"I'll be back soon. Don't worry." Sasuke said.

"H-hai..." Karin said sadly, a few tears running down her face.

Sasuke quickly ran into the direction where Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara went off it.

"Not so fast!" the Sand Jonin yelled, throwing 2 kunais at Sasuke with his right hand.

Karin looked in shock to see Genma deflected the 2 kunais with 3 of his own with his left hand.

Karin watched as Sasuke jumped over the Arena wall.

"Girl." Genma said.

Karin looked at Genma to see that he was staring down at her.

"I suggest you hide. You don't want to get hurt in the cross fire." Genma said then turned forward to look at the Sand Jonin.

"H-hai..." Karin said before she stood up and ran over to the Arena entrance.

A few minutes later.

When Karin made it to the outer side she looked up to see Naruto, Sakura, Shikamaru, and a small brown furred dog that had dark brown snout and ears, pink colored paws, wearing a blue clothed Konohagakure Forehead Protector on his head, a blue vest with the heno-heno-moheji symbol on the back of it, and a white bandaged on his right front leg, were hopping into the trees.

 _"They're going into Sasuke's direction..."_ Karin thought.

Karin ran back inside as she suddenly sensed more Sunagakure and Otogakure shinobi were coming. She quietly walked up the steps none of the Jonins could hear her and she slowly crawled through the unconscious people and Jonins fighting. When she made it to the end of the row of seats, she saw her Uncle Minato, now not wearing the Hokage hat and haori, and Hiruzen, now dressed in a black and green armoured hood with a bandanna-like forehead protector over this, tied with two black long straps, a black jumpsuit, mesh segments over the lower portions of his limbs, and a green gauntlet that covered much of his right arm, and dark brown sandals, were fighting a man that looks to be in his 30s but was 50, had a snake-like appearance, very pale skin, golden eyes with slitted pupils, purple markings around his eyes and fang-like teeth, straight waist-length black hair with some locks covering and framing his face or to his shoulders, wearing plain grey garbs over a long sleeved black, long black pants, a thick purple rope belt tied in a large knot behind his back, blue tomoe-shaped earrings, and black sandals with bandages around his calves.

 _"Who is that man that's fighting Uncle Minato and the Former Hokage...?"_ Karin thought, trying to get a closer look.

25 minutes later.

Karin continued to watch sadly as her Uncle Minato and Hiruzen were battling the snake like man, she sensed that Hiruzen was running low on chakra. There was a large grey wall and trees appeared and a tall brown skinned monkey that has body and long tail is covered by white fur which protrude from his sleeves and pants, long unkempt white hair that reached into his back and long white sideburns, white goatee, wearing his usual outfit, a black suit with mesh armour underneath, over which he wears a sleeveless kimono shirt with white fur trimmings, and markings reminiscent of tiger stripes on it which is held closed by a red sash, and a black Konoha forehead protector on his forehead.

 _"Oh no..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin suddenly sensed a large chakra, she slowly turned to the right to see a large male toad that has a dull, rusty red, but around his eyes and on his lips and chest are brighter red markings, a scar over his left eye, his tongue had a series of stud-like piercings on both the upper and lower side. He often wears a large blue happi vest that has the kanji 蝦 (ebi) on the back, and is carrying a massive dosu blade at his right hip, and also is carrying a large kiseru pipe in his mouth, was hovering over the trees and also sensed Naruto on it and a very small animal chakra on him. She also sensed Sasuke, another very small animal chakra, and Sakura nearby as well.

 _"Did Oniisan... really summoned that giant toad...?!"_ Karin thought shocked.

Karin saw a big puff of smoke appear a few distances away from the large, she suddenly sensed another large chakra but it was a 1000 times greater the toad. Her eyes widened as she now saw a large sandy brown tanuki with dark blue curse seal markings all over his face, body, and tail, a jagged concave mouth with no tongue, black sclerae eyes, yellow irides, yellow pupils that take the shape of a black 4 pointed star with 4 black dots around it. She watched them battle before the large toad and Naruto transformed into the Nine-Tails, a large fox with red-orange fur, red eyes, and 9 tails, and gasped in shock.

 _"They transformed into... Nine-Tailed Fox..."_ Karin thought.

When the Jonins defeated all of the Sunagakure and Otogakure ninja, Karin stopped hiding and stood up from the ground and looked around to see all of the Konoha Jonins were standing together on one of the rows.

 _"Is it almost over...?"_ Karin thought. Her eyes widened as she suddenly sensed something wrong, she looked up to see Hiruzen had both of his hands on the snake man's shoulders and the monkey laying on it's stomach while his right hand was holding on to a sword that was stabbing Hiruzen's chest, she sensed that his chakra was fading rapidly.

 _"Oh no... if his chakra keeps dropping... he'll die..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin saw the snake man's arms turned purple before Hiruzen released him and they they were speaking to one another before Hiruzen slowly closed his eyes and fell down smiling, Minato ran and caught Hiruzen as he was now crouching down. Karin made a sad face as she felt tears welling up in her eyes as she no longersensed chakra in Hiruzen's body.

 _"The Third Hokage is... d-dead..."_ Karin thought sadly, tears running down her face.

The monkey removed the sword from Hiruzen's back before he disappeared with it.

"My arms, they feels as if they're on fire." the snake man said.

The 1st Sound Ninja turned around as his hands were on the barrier. "Lord Orochimaru!' he yelled.

"Our mission has failed. Release the barrier, take me back." Orochimaru said.

"Right! Release!" the 4 Sound Ninja yelled together.

The pure purple flame barrier disappear before the 4 Sound Ninja ran over to Orochimaru and the 2nd one (on his right side) and the 4th one (on his left side) lifted him up before they jumped into the sky with the 1st and the 3rd one following them. Karin saw the 1st one released a large white spider web from his mouth to keep the 3 Anbu from following them then saw her Aunt Kushina running over to Minato and the now dead Hiruzen with worry and sadness in her eyes and when she made it Karin saw Kushina slowly crouched down on the left next to Minato before started to cry.

After a minute Karin saw the Jonins surrounded Kushina, Minato, and Hiruzen as they looked in sadness at Hiruzen as he was now dead.

* * *

Tomorrow.

Day Time.

Uzumaki clan compound.

Karin's (Ryo and Uzume's) house.

Karin, in a black long sleeved shirt, black skirt, brown glasses (not wearing her forehead protector on her forehead) was sitting on one of the couches, looking down sadly as her hands were in her lap, thinking about how the Third Hokage was dead as his funeral was today.

 _"I can't believe how everything happened so fast yesterday..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin looked up as she suddenly sensed Naruto coming over to her house, she slowly stood up from the crouch before walked over to the main shoki doors and put black sandals and slid one of them opened with her left hand to see Naruto had a bandage on his forehead and both of his cheeks, now wearing a black long sleeved shirt, long black pants, white bandages wrapped around his lower legs, black sandals, and his blue Forehead Protector wrapped around his neck, was stared at Karin, who stepped out before she slid one of the shoji doors closed with her right hand.

Naruto and Karin walked away from Karin's house and out of the Uzumaki clan compound.

...

5 minutes later.

As Naruto and Karin were walking through the wooden fences, Karin sensed Sasuke and Sakura nearby. They stopped walking to see Sakura, wearing a black long sleeved shirt, her Forehead Protector wrapped around her head as a hairband, black skirt, and black sandals, who stopped a few feet away from them. They stared at each other for a moment before Naruto and Karin looked to the right side and Sakura looked to the right side to see Sasuke, wearing a black long sleeved shirt, long black pants, his Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, white bandages wrapped around his lower legs, and black sandals, was walking towards them with his hands in his pockets.

Naruto, Karin, and Sakura looked at Sasuke as he walked passed them before he stopped the wind blowing in their hair and walked forward before Naruto, Karin, and Sakura ran to catch up with him.

...

6 minutes later.

On top of the Hokage Mansion.

Everyone was dressed in black, the males were wearing a black long sleeved shirt, long black pants, white bandages wrapped around his lower legs, and black sandals (some were wearing Forehead Protectors and other accessories), females were wearing a black long sleeved shirt, black skirt, and black sandals (some were wearing Forehead Protectors and other accessories) except Kushina who was wearing a black dress. Everyone were standing rows, Karin was standing next to Sasuke on the right while Sakura was on his left side. From left to right, Shino, Neji, Ino, Shikamaru, and Choji were standing next to Naruto on the right side while from right to left, Konohamaru, Iruka, Kushina were standing on his right side. Standing a few feet forward from left to right from the crowd was Minato, Koharu Utatane, a 68 year old fair skin woman that has grey hair that was tied in a twin bun locked by a hairpin with 2 pearls dangling on the left side, squinting but her eyes were black, and green and red earrings, and Homaru, a 68 year old fair skin man that has short spiky grey hair, grey hair, and wearing green glasses.

An object covered by a green clothed had a picture of Hiruzen on it, a white bouquet of flowers and a brown bowl stood in front of it, on the right and left side had 3 pictures each of Konoha Shinobi that have died recently during the attack yesterday, green folded clothed and a blue scroll stood in front of them, and a torch stood on the left and right side.

Everyone stood in silence for awhile before it started raining.

 _"This funeral reminds me of my parents had..."_ Karin thought sadly.

"We are gathered here to remember an honor not only the Former Third Hokage but all those who sacrificed themselves in this battle so that our Village would survive." Homaru said.

...

2 minutes later.

Some people started putting flowers near Hiruzen's picture. Karin suddenly heard crying, she looked forward to see Konohamaru crying as he covered his face with both of his hands.

 _"I remember feeling that way when my parents died..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Karin suddenly felt a hand on her right shoulder, she looked up at the right side to see Sasuke had his left hand on her right shoulder, looking at her worriedly. She stared at him sadly for a moment before looked forward.

Karin saw Iruka put his right hand on Konohamaru's right shoulder as he stared down at him sadly remembering his past with Hiruzen. Iruka crouched down before he hugged Konohamaru. Naruto looked down at Iruka and Konohamaru.

...

5 minutes later.

Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Sasuke, Karin, Kiba, Hinata, Shino, and Naruto placed a single white flower next to Hiruzen's picture before they went back where they stood before. The rain had stopped.

Naruto stared at Hiruzen's face on the Hokage Rock. "Iruka-sensei.. Why do they do it? Why do people risked their lives for other people?" he asked.

Iruka looked up at Naruto before he looked forward. "Well, when someone passes away it's the end, his past and future, all the dreams he once had they disappear along with him. This is true even if he dies honorably in battle as so many have.. as Hayate did. All the ties that bind him to the living are severed, I but one the most important of all people, parents, siblings, friends, lovers, the people who are important to him.. and these people, the ones left behind are joined together in a great circle by their shared memories of him, a circle of friendship, trust, and sacrifice that grows larger and stronger as time passes. It's hard to explain it, we'll remain in the circle together, we have no choice it's important to us." he said.

Naruto turned forward. "Hm, so we do it because we have to, I get it, sort of... Still I'm sad he's gone." he said.

"Think how sad it would be if he died for nothing? But he left us something priceless.. don't worry you'll understand one of these days." Kakashi said looking down at Naruto on the left side.

Naruto smiled as he looked up at Kakashi on the right side. "Hey, give me some credit that much I get, dattebayo." he said.

Sakura looked up at sky before she looked at Sasuke on the left side, smiling a little. "The rain, it stopped." she said.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Sakura before they looked up at the sky to see the clouds were moving away to reveal the light blue sky and sun.

...

10 minutes later.

The Funeral was over and everyone started to leave the top of the Hokage Mansion. Minato, Kushina, and Karin stood together as Naruto was in front of them.

"Bye Mom, Dad, Karin, see you later, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled smiling, waving his left hand in the air before placed it down and ran over to Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura, who were standing a few feet away from them.

"Okay." Minato said smiling.

"Be careful, dattebane!" Kushina yelled.

Karin saw Sasuke smiling at her warmly before she quickly turned her head to the right side blushing.

* * *

A few days later.

Karin, in her usual outfit (including her brown clothed Forehead Protector), was walking through the crowd of people to go eat at the Dango Shop. There were no mission being assigned out for awhile since people were still repairing buildings from the attack a few days ago. Today, Minato told her that he assigned Jiraiya to go find Tsunade to help heal some of the injured people in the Village.

 _"I wonder what will happen next...?"_ Karin thought.

Karin suddenly stopped in her tracks as her eyes were widened in fear as she suddenly sensed a very familiar chakra and an unknown cold and powerful chakra and also sensed Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai were far away.

 _"Oh no...! W-why did he come back out...?!"_ Karin thought shocked and afraid.

Karin quickly ran to the place where she sensed them. It took her a few minutes, when she made it a nearby building and hid behind it before she slowly peeked out as her right hand was on the building to see Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai, in their usual outfits, were facing Itachi, now 17 years old, his grey-like black hair gotten long in a ponytail and bangs, his sharingan was activated, wearing his now usual outfit, a black high collared cloak with red clouds on it, mesh armour with navy accents under an identical T-shirt with a simple white belt around the waist and dark blue long pants, grey sandals, white socks, his right ring finger had a ring which was red and bore the kanji for "vermilion" (朱, _shu_ ), purple nail polish on his fingers and toes and a necklace that had three silver rings with red gems inside them, and a blue clothed Konoha Forehead Protector on his forehead but it had been scratched, and a very tall, muscular man that looked to be 29 had a distinctive shark-like appearance, blue-grey skin, small, round, white and black eyes, 3 sets of curved facial markings under his eyes, gills on his shoulders[14] and sharp triangular teeth, bluespiky hair in the form of a shark fin, wearing dark blue long pants, a blue modified version of Kirigakure's forehead protector but it was scratched off, which covered his ears as well, a brown sash across the front and back of his cloak to hold mostly wrapped in bandaged blade in place but showed some dark blue spiky scales that had a series of downward-facing scales running along the entirety of its length until its hilt, at the base of which is a small skull, a black high collared cloak with red clouds on it, a ring on his left ring finger, bearing the kanji for "south" (南, _nan_ ) which was yellow in colour, dark-purple nail polish on his fingers and toes, grey sandals, and white socks, from across the lake. She gasped in fear before she hid behind the building, she started to remember that half of the Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan were killed.

 _"They can't defeat Itachi... He's too strong... I-I have to find Sasuke...! He'll know what to do..."_ Karin thought before she ran to find him.

It took her awhile as Karin sensed Sasuke's location, he was in the Forest training. She saw Sasuke, in his temporary outfit.

"Sasuke!" Karin yelled sadly.

Sasuke stopped training to see Karin running towards with sadness in her eyes, he looked at her with worry and concerned.

"Karin, what's the matter?" Sasuke asked.

Karin stopped in front of Sasuke as she crouched down a bit as her hands were on her knees, panted a little from exhaustion then she stood up straight, looking up at Sasuke. "S-sasuke.. I saw him.. he's back.." she said.

"Who's back?" Sasuke asked.

"Itachi.." Karin said sadly.

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Itachi?!" he asked, becoming serious. "Where did you see him?" placing his hands on her shoulders .

"He was with by the bridge with a man with a shark like appearance and they were battling Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai... B-but they're not there anymore..." Karin said sadly.

"Where is he now?" Sasuke asked.

"W-what...?!" Karin asked shocked.

"Which direction is Itachi heading?" Sasuke asked.

"Sasuke no.. we have to contact Uncle Minato or your father right away and tell them immediately..." Karin said sadly, trying to move away from Sasuke but he held her in place.

"Please Karin tell me, where is Itachi?!" Sasuke asked serious.

"W-what...?!" Karin asked shocked.

"Which direction is Itachi heading?" Sasuke asked.

"Sasuke no.. we have to find Uncle Minato or your father right away and tell them about this immediately..." Karin said, trying to move away from him but he held her in place.

"Please Karin, tell me which direction did Itachi went?!" Sasuke asked.

"Sasuke, stop it...!" Karin said getting out of Sasuke's grip and moved away from him, causing him to be surprised.

Karin closed her eyes tightly as she started to cry. "You remember that he killed half of our clans years ago... Kakashi went up against him... a-and I know he lost.. I sensed his chakra has decreased.. if you go I don't know what terrible things he will do to you... W-w-well have to contact Uncle Minato or Fugaku right away before he does something else... please..." she said.

Sasuke looked at Karin with worry and sadness at what she said before he walked over her.

Karin opened her eyes as she suddenly felt she was being pulled into a hug.

"Karin, I only want to defeat Itachi so he can never hurt anyone ever again, especially you." Sasuke said softly. "Please Karin, you have to tell me." pulling away from her a little to see her face.

Karin looked at Sasuke for a moment before she closed her eyes, looking down sadly. "I-I don't want you to die..." she said sadly.

"I promise you I won't die." Sasuke said.

Karin suddenly opened her eyes as she looked up at Sasuke surprised.

"I'm going to come back alive and kill Itachi before can hurt anyone else." Sasuke said softly.

"Y-you promise.. you will?" Karin said softly.

"Of course." Sasuke said nodding.

Karin looked Sasuke for a moment before she closed her eyes and sighed. "Okay..." she said sadly then moved away from Sasuke. She sensed the area for a second to sense Itachi and the shark-like man, her eyes suddenly widened in fright. _"Oh no...! Is he heading after him...?!"_ she thought.

"Is there something wrong?" Sasuke asked concerned.

"Itachi is going to the location where I sense Oniisan and Jiraiya are..." Karin said. "I think he's going to hurt Oniisan..."

"Which direction?!" Sasuke asked.

Karin pointed to the right with her left index finger. "They're over there..." she said. "But I sense many people in that direction I think it's a town..."

Sasuke looked into the direction Karin was pointing. "Thanks, Karin." he said then he ran in that direction.

Karin looked down sadly at the ground as she lowered her left hand.

Sasuke stopped and looked at Karin. "I'll be back soon. Don't worry." he said.

"H-hai..." Karin said sadly, a few tears running down her face.

Sasuke turned forward and continued to run.

 _"I sense... that I've made a bad decision... for telling Sasuke and not Uncle Minato..."_ Karin thought, sensing Sasuke was moving further from her location.

* * *

1 hour 1/2 later.

Karin was sitting on a medium sized building as she was thinking about her past, looking down. _"Sasuke... I wonder what he's doing right now...? And if he's battling Itachi...?"_ she thought. She suddenly looked up as she suddenly sensed Sasuke's chakra and also Guy's. _"Something's wrong... Sasuke's chakra feels a little weird..."_

Karin slowly stood up from the building before she hopped on to the ground and ran where she's sensing Guy's and Sasuke's chakras.

It took Karin awhile but she made it to the Konohagakure Hospital and stopped a few feet away as her eyes widened when she saw Guy carrying an unconscious Sasuke on his back.

 _"Oh no...! Sasuke...!"_ Karin thought sadly.

...

30 minutes later.

One of the Konohagakure Hospital rooms.

Sasuke, now wearing a short sleeved black shirt and long light grey pants, was laying unconscious in a bed with white blankets over him. From right to left stood Minato and Guy on the left side of Sasuke and from left to right stood Fugaku, in his usual outfit, Mikoto, in her usual outfit, and Karin on the right side of Sasuke.

"Jiraiya said that Itachi placed him in some type of Genjutsu just like Kakashi." Guy said.

"This is no ordinary Genjutsu, it's a Tsukuyomi." Fugaku said, folding his arms.

"I can't believe this happened. I'm not even sure how long it will last on him." Mikoto said sadly.

"You don't have to worry, Jiraiya's going to find Tsunade." Guy said.

Karin continued to look sadly at Sasuke as he was still laying unconscious in the Hospital bed before she looked down at the ground then started to cry. "I'm... sorry..." she said, almost like a whisper.

Minato, Fugaku, Mikoto, and Guy looked at Karin confused.

"What for Karin? You didn't do anything." Minato asked.

"I-I told Sasuke about Itachi... I wanted to tell you guys as well b-but... Sasuke told me to locate Itachi... a-and I-I gave it to him..." Karin said sadly.

Minato, Fugaku, Mikoto, and Guy looked at Karin in shock at what she just told them.

"I'm so very sorry... I-If I hadn't told Sasuke about this only told you... h-he would still be conscious..." Karin said sadly, tears running down her face.

Mikoto walked right past Fugaku to Karin and crouched down to her level, looking sadly at the crying Karin. "It's alright, Karin." she said.

"It's not..." Karin said sadly.

"I know right now it is but just like Guy said Jiraiya is going to come back with Tsunade to help him get out of the Tsukuyomi." Mikoto said.

Karin stopped crying as she looked at Mikoto. "Are you sure...?" she asked.

"Of course I'm sure." Mikoto said.

Karin wiped her eyes from under her glasses with her right hand before she looked at Sasuke. _"Sasuke... I'm sorry... I know that Tsunade will heal you really soon..."_ she thought.

* * *

1 month later.

Day Time.

Konohagakure Hospital.

Sasuke's room.

Karin was sitting on the right side of Sasuke, who was still unconscious, in a beige wooden stool watching him sadly. Sakura was sitting on the left side of Sasuke in a brown stool and her hands were in her lap as she looked down at the ground sadly.

Ever since Sasuke was put in the Hospital, Karin would mostly sit and watch him until it was night time when she would go home and rest. And when she didn't watch Sasuke, Mikoto would as she watched with some times. Sakura would sometimes like right now would watch Sasuke with her. Mikoto was here but she said she'll be right back in a little while.

Karin looked up as her eyes widened and looked to the right side at the door as she suddenly sensed 4 familiar chakras coming this way, 3 of the chakras were chakras she hadn't sensed in years.

After a minute, Tsunade, in her usual outfit, walked in with a smile on her face.

"May I come in?" Tsunade asked, now standing in the room.

Sakura stood up surprised. "Uh, who are you?" she asked, facing Tsunade.

Shizune, in her usual outfit, walked in with Tonton, in her usual outfit, in her arms and stood behind Tsunade smiling.

 _"Tsunade..."_ Karin thought astounded.

 _"However she is, she's beautiful."_ Sakura thought.

Tsunade and Shizune turned to the left side to look at Karin.

"It's been a long time, Karin. It's great to see you." Tsunade said, placing her left hand on her left hip.

"Um, it's nice to see you 2 as well..." Karin said, a little shy.

Karin suddenly sensed the 4th familiar chakra was here.

Naruto suddenly came running in and towards Sakura.

"Sakura-chan! Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled as he stopped right in front of her, smiling. "You'll never believe it, she's gonna make everything okay again, dattebayo!" then laughed and looked at Karin. "Hi Karin, don't worry you 2 Sasuke's gonna be alright now!"

Tsunade removed her left hand from her left hip as she walked past Naruto and Sakura and stopped next to Sasuke.

Karin looked down at Sasuke. _"What is Tsunade going to do to wake Sasuke up...?"_ she thought.

Sakura looked at Naruto shocked. "Naruto." she said.

Tsunade looked up to see 2 white lilies in a clear glass vase that was halfway filled with water on a small grey metal table that had a cream colored tea pot and a clear glass cup.

 _"Those flowers weren't picked the same day. Looks like Karin and this other girl have been visiting him for awhile now."_ Tsunade thought.

Sakura turned around and looked up at Tsunade, smiling. "You must be the one Guy-sensei told me about. Oh please if you can save Sasuke-kun ." she said then bowed her head.

Tsunade looked down at Sakura smiling and closing her eyes. "Well, I'll see what I can do." she said opening her eyes then turned to Sasuke, leaning in a little.

Naruto was smiling as his hands were behind his head as he looked down at Sasuke. Sakura stopped bowing as her hands were together.

Everyone watched as Tsunade placed her right hand on Sasuke's forehead before she used the Mystical Palm Technique on him. Sakura started to cry but quickly wiped her tears away with both of her hands. Tsunade stopped using the Mystical Palm Technique as Sasuke was starting to wake up then he slowly opened his eyes.

Naruto removed his hands from his head. "Sasuke!" he yelled smiling.

"Sasuke." Sakura said, her right hand over her mouth, tears forming in her eyes.

 _"Sasuke... h-he's really back..."_ Karin thought smiling softly, now crying tears of joy.

Tsunade removed her right hand from Sasuke's forehead. Sasuke slowly rosed the top half of himself as he grabbed the blanket with his left hand to remove some of it from him and he looked down motionless for a moment.

Sakura removed her right hand from her mouth crying as she ran over to Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun!" she yelled then hugged him. Sasuke looked motionless at Sakura, who continued cry on him.

"Hey, you're back!" Naruto said smiling, closing his eyes then he opened them and stopping smiling as he saw Sakura hug Sasuke. He smiled sadly at them before he turned around and walked away to the door and outside.

Tsunade watched as Naruto walked the door smiling. _"Hm, the little tough guy has a soft spot I see."_ she thought then became confused when she saw Naruto's left hand motioning her.

Shizune and Tonton looked at Naruto.

"Come on, you're not done." Naruto said.

Tsunade, Shizune, and Tonton walked out of the door as they followed Naruto.

Karin looked sadly at Sasuke and Sakura, who continued to hug him, before she closed her eyes and stood up from her seat before she started to leave like Naruto did.

"Karin." a male voice said.

Karin stopped when she was past the bed and she turned to the left and opened her eyes to see Sasuke looking at her. Sakura pulled away to look at Sasuke.

"Karin, I'm sorry." Sasuke said.

Karin's eyes widened at what Sasuke just said.

...

30 minutes later.

Sasuke was sitting on the bed while Karin was sitting on a beige wooden stool on the right side of him as they were the only ones in the room now. Karin sensed that Fugaku and Mikoto were coming to the Konohagakure Hospital.

"I've really out that long?" Sasuke questioned, looking down.

"Yes.. a month has past since... You've went to face him..." Karin said, looking at Sasuke before she looked down sadly. "... Fugaku said that he placed you in a Tsukuyomi..."

"I'm sorry, Karin." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Sasuke sadly.

"I couldn't defeat Itachi. He was just too strong and he easily defeated me." Sasuke said.

Karin continued to stare at Sasuke sadly.

"He tried to take Naruto and he placed that Tsukuyomi on me and nothing has changed." Sasuke said then gritted his teeth. "All of these years have passed and nothing has changed. I still couldn't couldn't defeat Itachi."

"That's.. not true..." Karin said.

Sasuke looked at the right side at Karin, surprised.

"Something has changed... you've become stronger.. as well as Oniisan... when I saw you battle Yoroi in the Preliminaries I-I was impressed that you've defeated him especially when he was draining you of your chakra..." Karin said shyly and softly. "And when you were fighting against Gaara... you were able to get through his defense with your Chidori that Kakashi taught you..."

Sasuke continued to listen to Karin.

"You've changed a lot since those 4 years ago... A-and I know you'll grow stronger in the future too..." Karin said softly.

Sasuke stared at Karin before he looked down at the blanket. "Thanks for that, Karin." he said. "I promise you that I'll go after Itachi when I truly know that I can defeat him."

 _"I sense something that isn't right..."_ Karin thought sadly.

Fugaku and Mikoto suddenly came into the rooms.

* * *

5 days later.

Day Time.

Karin was walking through the crowd of people to meet up with her team for a mission today. It was a D rank mission. She suddenly saw Tsunade walking towards her. She stopped when she was now in front of her.

"Hello Karin." Tsunade said, looking down at Karin smiling.

"Oh, hello to you too, Tsunade..." Karin said, looking up at Tsunade.

"I need to talk to you for a minute." Tsunade said.

"Okay..." Karin said.

"I'm going to be traveling again with Shizune and Tonton in the next 3 weeks and I was wondering if you could travel with us so I can train you." Tsunade said.

"Huh...?!" Karin said shocked.

"It would be great if you accepted. Your mom, Aunt Kushina, and Shizune have all traveled with me and they've all learned many Jutsus and skills but we've also had fun." Tsunade said.

"I-I don't know... Aunt Kushina is already training me..." Karin said.

"Alright then but if you change your mind, you can tell me, okay?" Tsunade asked.

"H-hai..." Karin said.

Tsunade moved to the right side of Karin and walked past her.

Karin looked at Tsunade before she turned forward and continued walking through she suddenly stopped when she sensed 3 chakras nearby, 2 of the chakras were familiar. She turned to the right side to see Naruto and Sakura were talking to a girl in front of them, she looked to be 9 years old, had light brown skin, long dark brown hair that she kept in 2 circular shape parts on top and 2 bangs hanging from the sides of her face, light brown eyes, wearing a small gold colored crown on her head, a white string tied around her head, a red cloth on her head that hangs down the sides of her head, a light green and white haori with a light green sash, a long sleeved puffy white shirt with pink wristbands beneath, a pink shirt, tannish brown sandals with circular bands around her ankles.

 _"Their mission must have something to do with her..."_ Karin thought. " _But... where's Kakashi and Sasuke...? And come to think of it... He's been acting strange and meaner than usual to Oniisan... I wonder if he's okay..."_ She suddenly snapped out of her thoughts and turned forward. _"Oh I almost forgot I have to meet with my team..."_

Karin started to walk forward as she sensed them a few feet away. After a minute, she stopped to see Shigeri, now 13 years old and in his usual outfit, Hiroki, now 13 years old and in his usual outfit, and Zosui, in his usual outfit, were standing a few feet away from her.

Zosui turned to look at Karin. "Hurry up!" he said.

"H-hai..." Karin said sadly and shyly, walking up until she was beside them.

"You're mission begins now." Zosui said.

* * *

Night Time.

Karin was walking through the Forest as she, Shigeri, and Hiroki we're all done planting new trees into it. They went their separate ways when they were done. As Karin was walking through she suddenly sensed Sasuke somewhere in the Forest.

 _"Sasuke..."_ Karin thought.

Karin turned to the left side and walked again as she continued to follow Sasuke's chakra. When Karin made it she stopped walking as she saw that Sasuke, in his temporary outfit, walking but she couldn't see his face. She shyly stepped forward as her hands were together near her chest.

"U-um.. Sasuke..." Karin said shyly but spoke loud as she could.

Sasuke stopped when he heard Karin's voice nearby, he turned around to the right side to see Karin standing next to one of the trees. "Karin, what are you doing out here?" he asked worried.

Karin gasped in fear as she saw that Sasuke's face and Forehead Protector was covered in blood.

"What's the matter, Karin?" Sasuke asked concerned.

Karin looked down as the ground, unable to look at Sasuke. "Y-your face... it's covered... in blood..." she said.

Sasuke's eyes widened when Karin said that, he raised his left hand and touched the left side of his face before he looked down at his left hand to see that some blood was on it.

"H-how did it get on your face...?" Karin asked.

"I defeated the enemies that were on their mission to kidnap Naho." Sasuke said.

 _"They've must've... said something to him to make Sasuke have... all of that blood on his face..."_ Karin thought frightened.

Sasuke lowered his left hand as he looked at Karin even more worried. "Karin." he said then started walking towards her.

Karin didn't move as she continued to look down at the ground. When Sasuke was now in front of her, she felt like her heart stopped beating.

"Karin, are you alright?" Sasuke asked concerned.

 _"N-no.. I-I can't be scared of him..."_ Karin thought.

Karin slowly reached into her left jacket pocket with her left hand and pulled out a beige colored handkerchief then held it out to Sasuke. "U-um, h-here you go..." she asked shyly.

Sasuke looked down at the handkerchief for a moment. "Thanks." he said then took it with his right hand and began to wipe some of the blood off of his face.

Karin lowered her left hand as she continued to look at the ground. _"But still... Sasuke's changing a lot since Itachi came..."_ she thought sadly.

* * *

6 days later.

Night Time.

On the other side of the River.

Naruto and Karin were walking on a dirt path together as they were meeting with Sasuke and Sakura to watch the fireworks. Minato was honoring Tsunade for all of the people she has healed over the past couple of days.

As they were walking, Karin's hands were together as she was deep in thought about the recent events that happened with Sasuke: the promise he made to her in the hospital, the blood all over his face, and the right he had with Naruto in the Rock area.

 _"What's wrong with you, Sasuke...?"_ Karin thought sadly.

"Karin." a male voice said.

Karin was pushed out of her thoughts and looked to the left side to see Naruto staring at her.

"Is there something wrong?" Naruto asked concerned.

"It's nothing Oniisan.. I was thinking about something unimportant..." Karin said lying.

"Okay." Naruto said.

After a minute, Naruto and Karin finally made it as they saw Sasuke and Sakura a few feet away.

"Oh, you guys made it." Sakura said.

Karin sensed that Sakura was hiding her annoyance of being interrupting of her alone time with Sasuke.

"I said that we would be here, dattebayo." Naruto said.

Karin stopped next to Sasuke on the right side and Naruto stopped next to Sakura on her left side as they were in front of the lake.

Sasuke turned his head to the right side and smiled at Karin. "I'm glad you came here, Karin." he said.

Karin looked away to the right side as she was blushing furiously at what Sasuke just said to her. "U-um.. y-you t-too Sasuke..." she said shyly. _"At least... he's behaving like his usual self before Itachi came here..."_

Sakura was now glaring at Karin for getting Sasuke's attention and ignoring Naruto, who was looking at her sadly.

 _"Why does Karin always gets Sasuke's affections?! Shannaro!"_ Sakura thought angrily.

12 minutes later.

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura looked up at the night sky to fireworks were being popped high in the air. Sasuke had his left hand in his left pocket, Sakura had her hands together behind her back, and Naruto had his hands on his hips.

 _"They're so beautiful..."_ Karin thought astounded.

Sasuke turned his head to the right side to see Karin looking up at the sky astounded, he moved his right hand to touch her left hand but stopped when he felt Sakura leaning on the left side of him, which annoyed him.

Sasuke and Karin leaned to the right side because Naruto and Sakura were leaning against them, Karin stopped looking up at the fireworks as she and Sasuke looked to the left side to see Naruto and Sakura moved away from them to the left side. Sasuke looked up at the fireworks again while Karin saw Sakura punch Naruto with her left hand, making Naruto fall down.

 _"I guess.. somethings never change..."_ Karin thought.

* * *

5 days later.

Day Time.

Karin was walking one of the streets of Konoha carrying a cream clothed wrapped bento box with both hands as she was walking back to the Hospital to check up on Sasuke. She was thinking about Sasuke and his behavior before she left him for awhile.

 _2 hours ago._

 _Konohagakure Hospital._

 _One of the Rooms._

 _Sasuke, now wearing a short sleeved grey shirt and long light grey pants, was sitting on the bed with his hands together on the sheets in front of him and he was looking down at it as Karin was sitting on a beige wooden stool on the right side of the bed._

 _Sasuke was now in the Hospital again because of his injuries when Team 7 went on a mission in the Land of Tea. Karin had been looking over Sasuke for awhile now as Sakura left to go get something for Sasuke. Fugaku and Mikoto visited Sasuke for awhile now before they left but said they would be back soon._

 _Karin looked at Sasuke sadly as her hands were together in her lap, who was still staring down at the bed and not saying anything._

 _"S-sasuke..." Karin said sadly._

 _Sasuke didn't say anything._

 _"Are you okay...?" Karin asked sadly._

 _Sasuke still didn't say anything._

 _"Please say something, Sasuke..." Karin said sadly._

 _Sasuke continued to not say anything._

 _"At least... are you hungry...?" Karin asked sadly._

 _When Sasuke still continued to not say anything, Karin looked down sadly at the ground._

 _"I guess I am hungry." Sasuke said._

 _Karin's eyes widened a little as she looked at Sasuke._

 _"Maybe some of that tomato curry and Onigiri you made before." Sasuke said then looked at Karin._

 _Karin stood up as she continued to stare at Sasuke. "I'll be right back..." she said before she started to walk towards the door and slid it open with her left hand and stepped out before she slid closed with her right hand._

 _Flashback ends._

* * *

 _"I wonder what Sasuke is thinking right now...?"_ Karin thought sadly.

As Karin was a few feet away from the Hospital she suddenly stopped when she sensed that Sasuke was no longer in the Hospital instead she sensed that he was outside, and she also sensed that Kakashi's, Naruto's, and Sakura's were top of the Hospital roof.

 _"What happened while I was gone...?"_ Karin thought before she followed where she sensed Sasuke was.

When Karin made it to one of the fence paths she looked up to see Sasuke sitting on a tree and staring angrily to himself.

 _"Wh-what happened to Sasuke...? He was upset before I left but... why is he now angry...?"_ Karin thought confused and worried.

Karin walked over to the tree that Sasuke was sitting. "U-um S-sasuke..." she said.

Sasuke stopped glaring as he was pushed out of his thoughts and looked down to see Karin staring up at him concerned. "Oh Karin." he said.

"Wh-why did you leave the Hospital...?" Karin asked softly.

Sasuke stood up on the tree and jumped down from it in front of Karin, who backed away a little. "I'll explain it later." he said.

Karin suddenly remembered the bento box in her hands. "H-here's the food you said you wanted..." she said shyly.

Sasuke looked down at the bento box in Karin's hands. "Oh, thanks." he said then looked up at her smiling.

Karin shyly gave Sasuke the bento box with both hands, who took it from her, before she backed away a little and put her hands together.

 _"I should probably ask Oniisan what happened..."_ Karin thought.

* * *

2 days later.

Day Time.

Lake.

Karin was standing on grass as she looked down at the lake, seeing a reflection of herself in the water. _"I hope they improve soon..."_ she thought, thinking about Naruto and Sasuke.

Karin looked up as she suddenly sensed Sasuke coming to her location. She turned around to see Sasuke, in his usual outfit, was walking towards her with his hands in his pockets.

"Karin." Sasuke said.

"O-oh, u-um hello, S-sasuke..." Karin greeted shyly.

Karin turned back around to the lake as Sasuke stopped next to her on the right side.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked, looking at her.

Karin looked down at the lake as her hands were together. "W-w-well I-I was practicing the Walk on Water technique..." she said shyly.

"So that's what that was?" Sasuke asked.

Karin looked up to the right side at Sasuke. "What do you mean...?" she asked confused.

"A few days when we were in the Land of Tea for a mission, I saw Naruto using that technique you were talking about." Sasuke said.

"Well I've learned it from Aunt Kushina a few days after we've put into teams..." Karin said.

"Can you teach me this technique?" Sasuke asked.

Karin separated her hands. "Huh...?" she asked confused.

"I want to learn it." Sasuke said.

Karin looked forward. "O-okay... but it's a basic technique..." she said.

Sasuke watched as Karin started to walk on the lake for a few feet then stopped before she faced him.

"It's similar to the Tree Climbing technique... This method is used to gain better chakra control... To do this, you have to be emitting a constant stream of chakra from the bottom of the your feet and using the repellent force to walk across the water's surface... This technique is more difficult to master than the Tree Climbing technique, because the amount of chakra that needs to be emitted changes constantly... The more you train with this technique the more you reach a state where you stand on water without even noticing it or basically even trying... Also it doesn't have to just be at the feet... You're under water you can focus chakra on your hands or any body part that makes contact with the surface of the water and climb atop the water as if you were climbing out of a large size water..."

"I see." Sasuke said, understanding what Karin just said.

Karin lifted her arms up and made the Ram hand sign. "First, you make this sign..." she said. "Then build up chakra in your feet and keep emmiting it..." then she pulled her hands apart.

"Okay, I get it." Sasuke said then pulled his hands out from his pockets and made the Ram hand sign and built chakra in his feet.

Karin saw Sasuke lowered his hands and stepped on the water with his left foot before he started walking towards her. She was impressed because she heard from Kakashi that it took him and Naruto a long time to master the Tree Climbing technique.

 _"He must've improved a lot on his chakra control since that mission in the Land of Waves..."_ Karin thought.

When Sasuke made to Karin he stopped right in front of her.

"Thanks, Karin for teaching me that technique." Sasuke said smiling. "You're a great teacher."

Karin blushed furiously as she backed away from Sasuke a little. "I-I-It w-was n-nothing... r-really..." she said shyly, looking down.

* * *

4 days later.

Day Time.

Karin's House.

Living Room.

Karin was sitting on a couch with her hands in her lap, looking down sadly as she remembered what happened to her recently.

* * *

 _Flashback._

 _Yesterday._

 _Day Time._

 _Forest._

 _Karin was walking through the Forest as she was exploring the grounds some more. She was using her Chakra Suppression Technique so no one can detect her. As she continued walking she suddenly was on a clear dirt path and turned to the right side to see a few wooden houses._

 _"This must be a small village..." Karin thought. She walked_ _into the small village before she looked around it. "I must've wandered too far from Konoha again..." now looking at the Forest again._

 _Karin suddenly heard footsteps behind her, she slowly turned around to see 2 men walking towards her smirking. The 1st one on her left looked to be in his mid 30s, has fair skin, skinny, short black hair, black eyes, small black beard, wearing a black folded collared opened jacket with light grey trimmings, white tape wrapped around his chest and his right arm, long grey pants, grey tape wrapped around the top of his head, and light grey sandals and the 2nd one was on her right side looked to be in his early 40s, fat, short brown hair, black eyes, purple short sleeved shirt, light brown pants, and light grey sandals._

 _She slowly backed away a little in fright as she didn't like the way they were smirking at her._

 _"Hey little girl. How about coming with us?" the 1st one asked._

 _Karin became more scared as she turned around and started to run. She heard footsteps behind her before she was pushed to the ground. The 1st man grabbed Karin's hair and pulled her upper half with his right hand._

 _"Help!" Karin yelled sadly, her eyes closed as tears were running down her face as she held on to her head with both of her hands._

 _"I'll bet this red head is a member of the Uzumaki clan from Konohagakure nearby." the 1st one said, looking down at Karin smirking._

 _"You were right that she'd be worth something." the 2nd one said, looking down at Karin smirking._

 _"Let me go! Let me go!" Karin yelled sadly, crying even more and moving a little._

 _"She's a pretty feisty kid." the 1st one said._

 _The 2nd one started drooling. "I hear you have an unusual power." he said._

 _Karin looked up at the 2 men sad and scared._

 _"We'll get a good price for you underground." the 1st one said._

 _Karin closed her eyes tightly as she continued to cry as the 2 men laughed. Her hair was suddenly released she heard the 2 men stopped laughing and now heard thuds and grunts. Her hands were on the ground before she slowly opened her eyes to see the 2 men were on the ground and Sasuke, in his usual outfit, was in front of her as he looked down at the 2 unconscious men._

 _"S... Sasuke..." Karin said shyly._

 _Sasuke stopped looking down at the 2 men before he turned around to see Karin staring up at him with sad eyes as tears were flowing down her face. He stepped forward a little and crouched down beside her._

 _"Karin." Sasuke said worried._

 _"H-how did you know I was here...?" Karin asked._

 _"I followed you and I also sensed something bad was going to happen to you." Sasuke said. "Are you alright? Did they_ _hurt you?" then he placed his hands on her shoulders._

 _Karin suddenly felt a lot of sadness well up in her as more tears flowed out of her eyes. Sasuke pulled Karin into a hug then she buried her head into the left side of Sasuke's shoulder and started crying._

 _"It's okay. They're not going to hurt you anymore." Sasuke said hugging Karin tighter and softly rubbed her back with his right hand._

 _Karin cried even harder as she held on to Sasuke's shirt._

 _"Everything's going to be alright." Sasuke said, soothing Karin._

 _Flashback ends._

* * *

Karin contined to look down sadly as she started to remember more things about her past.

* * *

 _Flashback._

 _5 years ago._

 _Academy._

 _7 years old._

 _Karin_ , _in her old usual outfit, was walking through the hallways she sensed another chakra coming towards her. She looked up to see a man, who had fair skin, black hair that was at a shoulder length and was combed back, grey pupiless eyes, wide but built up body, a huge forehead, wearing a grey Konohagakure forehead protector on his forehead, dark brown-grey kimono like shirt with cream outlines, long black pants, a large white rope tied around his waist, black socks, and black sandals, was walking towards her. She could see that he had an angry look on his face, which frightened her. The man was now in front of her, Karin looked up to see that he was looking down at her more angry than before now._

 _"S-sorry." Karin said shyly._

 _"All of you Uzumakis are weak." the man said._

 _"Huh?" Karin asked confused._

 _"You all are nothing but a disgrace to The Hidden Village." the man said before he continued moving forward. "Should stayed in Uzushiogakure."_

 _The man left, leaving Karin alone in the hallway by herself and tears began forming in her eyes._

 _4 years later._

 _12 years old._

 _Outside._

 _Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin walked towards a field as their new Jonin teacher walked ahead of them. Karin looked at the man cautiously, not sure to trust her new Jonin. When they were now in the field the Jonin suddenly stopped making Karin, Shigeri, Hiroki stop as well and look up at him._

 _The Jonin turned around as he stared down at his 3 new Genins._

 _"I'm now your Sensei, the only thing you guys need to know about me is that my name is Zosui..." the Jonin said. "You guys will say your names and nothing else..."_

 _"Well my name is Shigeri." Shigeri said._

 _"Mines Hiroki." Hikori said._

 _"Um my name is Karin.. Uzumaki..." Karin said shyly._

 _"You 3 will meet back here tomorrow in the afternoon for a test to see if you can work as a team.." Zosui said. "If you pass you all will be assigned missions.. but... you all fail you're going back to the Academy..."_

 _Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin looked at Zosui surprised at what he just said._

 _"So I suggest you prepare for it tonight..." Zosui said._

 _"So.. this test is the real Graduation.. not the Graduation test we took a few days ago..."Karin thought._

 _"You 3 are dismissed.." Zosui said then turned to Karin. "Except for you."_

 _Karin became confused as Shigeri and Hiroki started to walk away. When Shigeri and Hiroki were far away from them, Zosui glared at Karin, making her scared._

 _"You especially should be prepared.. you're not going slow your team mates down.." Zosui said glaring._

 _Karin put her hands together near her chest._

 _"I never wanted a filthy and pathetic Uzumaki as my students but they assigned you me..." Zosui said harshly. "You should've have just died with half of them years ago."_

 _Karin gasped at what Zosui just said to her._

 _Zosui just walked away, leaving Karin by herself. Karin looked down as she put her hands down and started to cry, remembering something from the past._

 _Flashback._

 _"All of you Uzumakis are weak." the Zosui said._

 _"You all are nothing but a disgrace to The Hidden Village." the man said before he continued moving forward. "Should stayed in Uzushiogakure."_

 _Flashback ends._

 _"W-w-why? W-why does he have Uzumakis?" Karin asked, tears streaming down her face. "I-I don't... understand..."_

 _Tomorrow._

 _Daytime._

 _Afternoon._

 _Karin was standing in front of Zosui, looking sadly up at him._

 _"Your fighting skills on this test was weak, your team mates were trying to defeat me but you merely stood far away and watched." Zosui said. "You should have been sent back to the Academy right now."_

 _Karin looked down sadly._

 _"However.." Zosui said._

 _Karin looked up at Zosui again._

 _"The only reason I've passed you 3 is because you know how to heal your team mates, which would be good for The Hidden Leaf." Zosui said._

 _Don't expect me to teach you anything, train under someone else. As far as I'm concerned your only duty on the team is to heal your 2 team mates." Zosui said. "If you don't heal them properly your status as a Ninja will be terminated permanently, I don't care if you're the Fourth Hokage's niece."_

 _Karin looked down at the ground sadly again. "Hai." she said._

 _Less than 2 months later._

 _Forest._

 _Zosui, in his usual outfit, was standing in front of Karin, looking down at her._

 _"The Fourth Hokage wants you work on another team for awhile." Zosui said._

 _"Me? H-he said that?" Karin asked shyly, looking up at him sadly._

 _"I've agreed to what he said since Team 9 we'll be working with a temporary replacement for you." Zosui said._

 _Karin continued to look up at Zosui sadly._

 _"Do whatever they say and don't embarrass this team, doesn't mean that you're a joke doesn't mean the rest of us are." Zosui said. "Keep that in mind."_

 _Karin sadly bowed her head. "Hai." she said then looked up at Zosui again. "Which team will I be temporarily assigned to?"_

 _"Team 7." Zosui said._

 _Karin gasped in shock._

 _Almost 2 months later._

 _Konohagakure Hospital._

 _One of the hallways._

 _Karin was standing close to the wall and Zosui, in his usual outfit, was standing a few feet away from her. A white line drawn in the middle of the hallway._

 _"I've signed you and your team members to take part in the next Chunin Exams." Zosui said._

 _"Me?" Karin asked, making sad face._

 _Karin has heard of the Chunin Exams, they were tests and an opportunity for Genin to be promoted to Chunin. The exams structure and evaluation process differ from one exams to the next so that Behind cannot come prepared._

 _This exams displays the strength of Ninja Village through their Genin's abilities. It's considered a war by proxy. We cannot afford to lose. Since you're too weak to right, your only duty is to help and keep the other 2 completely replenished. I only allowed you to join the Team 9... Keep that in mind and make sure you get us good results." Zosui said._

 _Karin closed her eyes as she bowed her head down sadly. "Hai..." she said._

 _Day time._

 _One of the Training Grounds._

 _Karin was staring sadly at the ground as she standing a few feet away from Zosui, in his usual outfit, and was looking at angrily at her._

 _"You've been such a disappointment. I hope for better results than this!" Zosui said. "I guess you're just a filthy Uzumaki from Uzushiogakure... so you don't feel any loyalty for Konoha."_

 _"That's not true! I-" Karin said then looked up at Zosui but was cut off from speaking._

 _"Then prove it. Hurry up and go on a mission with your team members." Zosui said._

 _"A mission?" Karin questioned sadly._

 _"It's a C-rank." Zosui said._

 _Flashback ends._

 _"Oniisan... Sasuke... and everyone I know is getting stronger and improving their skills..."_ Karin thought sadly then closed her eyes, tears running down her face. _"I haven't even improved my skills other than the basic techniques that Aunt Kushina is teaching me... Oniisan and Sasuke have been protecting me all this time... and I couldn't even help or protect them..."_ she suddenly opened her eyes as she remembered what Tsunade said to her a few days ago.

 _Flashback._

 _Day Time._

 _Karin was walking through the crowd of people to meet up with her team for a mission today. It was a D rank mission. She suddenly saw Tsunade walking towards her. She stopped when she was now in front of her._

 _"Hello Karin." Tsunade said, looking down at Karin smiling._

 _"Oh, hello to you too, Tsunade..." Karin said, looking up at Tsunade._

 _"I need to talk to you for a minute." Tsunade said._

 _"Okay..." Karin said._

 _"I'm going to be traveling again with Shizune and Tonton in the next 3 weeks and I was wondering if you could travel with us so I can train you." Tsunade said._

 _"Huh...?!" Karin said shocked._

 _"It would be great if you accepted. Your mom, Aunt Kushina, and Shizune have all traveled with me and they've all learned many Jutsus and skills but we've also had fun." Tsunade said._

 _"I-I don't know... Aunt Kushina is already training me..." Karin said._ _"Alright then but if you change your mind, you can tell me, okay?" Tsunade asked._ _"H-hai..." Karin said._ _Tsunade moved to the right side of Karin and walked past her._

 _Flashback ends._

* * *

 _"I see..."_ Karin thought, wiping under her glasses with her right hand. _"I know what I must do..."_ removing her right hand from her face. _"But... what about Aunt Kushina... she's still teaching me..."_

Karin stood up from the couch and walked over to the main shoji doors and put her on sandals before she slid one of the main shoji doors open with her right hand and stepped out before she slid it closed behind her. She started walking to her Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina's house, sensing that her Aunt Kushina was home.

When Karin made it she knocked on the main shoji doors with her left hand she waited for her Aunt Kushina to come to the door. Within a few seconds, one of the main shoji doors opened up to reveal Kushina.

"Karin, it's so nice to see you." Kushina said smiling down at Karin.

"It's nice to see you as well, Aunt Kushina..." Karin said, looking up at Kushina.

Kushina stopped smiling when she noticed the sad expression on Karin's face. "What's wrong, Karin? Was it about the 2 men that almost abducted you?" she asked worried.

"Hai... and also I-I also wanted to talk to you about something..." Karin said.

"About what, dattebane?" Kushina asked confused.

Karin looked down sadly. "A few days ago Tsunade said that she was going to be traveling in 3 weeks and... she wanted me go with her so she can train me... I think I want to go but... I want your permission since you're still training me..." she said.

Kushina looked down at Karin for a moment before she smiled then crouched down to Karin's level and placed her hands on Karin's shoulders. "Karin, if that's what you want to do then I'm fine with Tsunade being your teacher and also traveling with her as well."

"Thank you Aunt Kushina... I wanted to tell this because... you're a second mother to me..." Karin said then looked at Kushina.

Kushina gasped before she hugged Karin. "And I have always thought of you as my own daughter, dattebane!" she said happily.

Karin hugged her Aunt Kushina back.

They stayed like that for a moment until Karin pulled away as she suddenly sensed Tsunade was heading to the Uzumaki clan compound.

"What is it, Karin?" Kushina asked.

"I sense Tsunade is coming here..." Karin said then turned around and walked away.

Kushina stood up again then slid one of the main shoji doors closed with her right hand before she followed Karin. Karin kept walking until she saw Tsunade a few feet away from her. When they were 2 feet away from each other they stopped.

"Hello Karin." Tsunade said, looking down at Karin.

"Hello to you too Tsunade... I want to tell you something..." Karin said, looked up at Tsunade.

"What would that be?" Tsunade asked.

"Well, I want to travel with you so I can train..." Karin said, making a serious face.

Tsunade was surprised. _"Since I've known Karin I never saw this serious before. There has to be a reason to this."_ she thought then looked to see Kushina standing a few feet away smiling. She smiled before she looked down at Karin again. "We leave in a few days and be prepared."

"H-hai..." Karin said, nodding.

"But someone else is going to be traveling with us." Tsunade said.

"Huh...?" Karin asked confused.

* * *

Tomorrow.

Day Time.

Karin's house.

Karin was reading a book at the kitchen table and sitting in one of the chairs. She was about to read more until she suddenly sensed a very familiar chakra was quickly heading towards her house.

 _"I wonder why is he coming here...?"_ Karin thought, closing her book with both hands.

Karin stood up from her chair and walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. She slid one of the shoji doors open with her left hand to see Sasuke, in his temporary outfit and a green backpack on his shoulders, looking at her.

"Oh hello Sasuke..." Karin greeted shyly.

"Karin, I'm here to say goodbye." Sasuke said.

"Goodbye...? Are you going somewhere...?" Karin asked confused.

"I'm going to be shadowing other Uchihas in the Police who are going on a mission to the Feudal Lord's office that is a long term mission." Sasuke said.

"Then what about Team 7...?" Karin asked.

"I asked my father to transfer me off of Team 7 so I can shadow other Uchihas that are going on the Feudal Lord's mission." Sasuke said.

Karin became shocked but didn't say anything before she said something else. "W-w-well... do your best out there..." she said shyly.

"I will but what are going to be doing?" Sasuke asked.

"I'm going to be traveling with Tsunade in a few days..." Karin said.

Sasuke smiled. "That's great, Karin. You'll be great." he said.

Karin blushed furiously as she looked down at the floor. "Thank you, S-sasuke..." she said shyly.

"I better get going they're probably waiting for me." Sasuke said then started to turn around.

Karin looked up as she stopped blushing. "W-wait..." she said.

Sasuke turned around to look at Karin again. "What is it?" he asked.

"I want to give you something... Please wait right here, I'll be right back..." Karin said before she quickly went back into the house.

...

2 minutes later.

Karin came back out of the house and with an object in both of her hands. Sasuke looked down at the object in Karin's hands to see a small rock that was bright orange but was crimson red at the center. He'd never seen a rock like it before.

"I-I want you to have it, Sasuke..." Karin said.

"Where did you find this rock?" Sasuke asked.

"2 months ago I found it near the lake..." Karin said.

"Are you sure that I can have it?" Sasuke asked.

"H-hai..." Karin said.

Sasuke slowly took the rock from Karin's hands with his right hand before he looked at the stone up close before he placed it in his right pocket. "Thanks." he said.

"You're welcome..." Karin said shyly.

"I also have something for you." Sasuke said.

"Huh...? What would that be...?" Karin asked confused.

"This." Sasuke said before he stepped forward and kissed Karin on the left side of her face.

Karin blushed furiously as her eyes widened.

Sasuke pulled away before he smirked. "Goodbye Karin." he said before he disappeared.

Karin stood there for a few moments before she placed her left hand on the left side of her face, sensing that Sasuke was moving away from her location. _"W-why did he do that...?"_ she thought shocked.

* * *

Tomorrow.

Day Time.

Konohagakure Gate.

From left to right: Kushina, Karin, and Minato were standing a foot away Naruto who was wearing a grey backpack on his shoulders and Jiraiya standing on the left side of him. After hearing that Sasuke went on that mission Naruto decided that he wanted to train with Jiraiya on the road. Karin also sensed 4 familiar chakras coming towards them.

"You didn't have to see me off." Naruto said smiling, his eyes closed.

Kushina leaned forward with her hands on her hips. "Now that won't do, dattebane!" she said.

Naruto opened his eyes as he stopped smiling and became scared and nervous when he saw her scary face.

"Now listen carefully, Naruto. The 3 Prohibitions of the Shinobi must be strictly observed!" Kushina said then closed her eyes. "Jiraiya-sensei tends to be too lax." then opened her eyes again. "Don't you dare imitate his bad habits!"

 _"The bad habits they keep mentioning..."_ Karin thought.

Minato smiled nervously as his eyes were closed. "I'm sorry... She insisted on seeing you off." he said.

Karin moved backwards as Kushina moved towards Minato, who turned to Kushina's direction and held up his hands midway nervously.

"That goes without saying, dattebane!" Kushina said then made a worried face as she held up her fist near her face. "What if Naruto picks up bad habits while accompanying Sensei on his Intel gatherings?!"

Minato lowered his hands.

Kushina unfisted her hands. "I worry enough about his antics and recklessness." she said.

Naruto closed his eyes as he smiled nervously.

Jiraiya folded his arms as he closed his eyes. "Don't worry. If he gets in my way, I'll just transport him away to Mount Myoboku or someplace." he said.

Naruto stopped smiling as he opened his eyes and looked up at Jiraiya. "Mount Myoboku?" he questioned.

Kushina stopped making a worried face as she lowered her hands and moved to where she was standing. Karin moved forward to where she was standing.

Everyone looked at Minato, who had a gloomy cloud hanging over him.

"No matter what kind of food you're served, just hang in there." he said.

"U-Uh-huh." Naruto said, nodding.

"Hey..." a familiar boy voice said.

Jiraiya, Minato, Kushina, Naruto, and Karin turned to see Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, in her usual outfit, and Sakura were standing a few feet away from them.

"Be careful on your journey." Shikamaru said smiling his right hand in his right pocket.

Naruto stepped a little towards them. "You guys!" he said.

"Just don't go overboard. If you try too hard, you'll make us look like we're slacking off." Choji said.

Ino quickly looked at Choji. "What're you saying?! We're going to work hard too!" she said then turned forward and crossed her arms as she closed her eyes. "I refuse to be a genin forever!"

Shikamaru, Choji, and Sakura looked at Ino.

Sakura closed her eyes and placed her right hand on her right hip as she turned to the right side, smiling. "I'll have you know, on the track to go straight to the top." she said.

Shikamaru took his right hand out of his right pocket as he, Choji, and Ino looked at her.

Sakura turned forward. "I already have a place to train." she said.

Ino looked at Sakura surprised. "Huh?! When did this happen?!" she asked.

Sakura opened her eyes and looked at Naruto. "I'm not going to lose to Naruto." she said.

Naruto smiled at Sakura. "Roger, dattebayo!" he said, closing his eyes.

"Hey..." Jiraiya said.

Everyone turned to see Jiraiya walking out of the Konohagakure Gate.

"It's about time to leave." Jiraiya said.

Naruto had both fists near his stomach. "Right! I'm ready!" he said then lowered his hands before he followed Jiraiya then turned to look at everyone one more time. "Okay! I'm off, dattebayo!" he said waving his right hand before he lowered it and continued to follow Jiraiya.

* * *

2 days later.

Day Time.

Konohagakure Gate.

From left to right: Kushina and Minato were standing a foot away Karin, who was wearing a grey medium sized backpack on her shoulders. A few feet stood Ino, who was wearing a dark blue medium sized backpack on her shoulders, and in front of her parents, Inoichi and Ayame, in their usual outfits, were talking to her. Another few feet away from them was Sakura, who had a cream colored medium sized backpack, was in front of her parents, Kizashi and Mebuki, in their usual outfits, were talking to her about something.

Ino decided to be Tsunade's apprentice as well because she wanted to be stronger as well but only wants to be a healer and after she is done she'll learn the Yamanaka clan's techniques.

Tsunade, Shizune, and Tonton were standing a little bit outside of the Konohagakure Gate, watching as her new students were saying goodbye to their parents and relatives.

"I'm going to miss you Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina..." Karin said, looking up at them.

"We're going to miss you too." Minato said smiling. "And don't worry we'll watch over the house."

"Thank you..." Karin said.

Kushina crouched down at Karin's level and grabbed her shoulders with both of her hands. You have to listen carefully Karin. Even though me and your mother had fun traveling with Tsunade-Sensei and learned many techniques, she really loves gambling but she always loses. And we don't want you to develop her bad habit." she said worriedly.

"I promise you, I'm not going to develop Tsunade's gambling habit..." Karin said then hugged Kushina.

Kushina hugged Karin back before she pulled away and stood up again. Minato stepped forward to Karin and hugged her, who hugged back, and pulled away and stood up again.

"Hey!" Tsunade yelled.

Everyone turned towards Tsunade.

"We'll be leaving in a minute." Tsunade said.

Ino and Sakura said goodbye to their parents before they started to walk to where Tsunade was.

Karin looked up at Minato and Kushina again, who were staring down at her.

"Goodbye..." Karin said before she turned around and followed Ino and Sakura.

Minato, Kushina, Inoichi, Ayame, Kizashi, and Mebuki watched as Karin, Ino, and Sakura walked with Tsunade, Shizune, and Tonton.

 _"I wonder where we will stop next...? And will we see Oniisan on the way...?"_ Karin thought. _"And maybe even Sasuke, too..."_

* * *

End of Chapter 13.

Please review.

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	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14.

Please review.

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* * *

2 days later.

Day Time.

An unknown Village.

From right to left Tsunade, Shizune, and Tonton, in their usual outfits, were walking through one of the dirt roads of the Village as from right to left was Ino, Karin, and Sakura, in their usual outfits, were walking behind them. Sakura was in her old usual outfit that had the sleeveless quipao.

They were staying in the Unknown Village for awhile and their belongings were in the Hotel they were renting. Tsunade and Shizune were taking Ino, Karin, Sakura somewhere to begin their training. As all of them continued walking through the road, Tsunade stopped and turned to the left side as Shizune, Ino, Karin, Tonton, and Sakura did the same.

"Here we are." Tsunade said smiling, looking up.

Shizune, Ino, Karin, Tonton, and Sakura looked up at a medium sized brown and green building that had the kanji for Library.

"A library?" Sakura asked confused.

"Why are we here?" Ino asked.

"I'll explain once we're inside." Tsunade said then walked up the stairs with Shizune, Ino, Karin, Tonton, and Sakura following her.

Tsunade opened the right side of the door with her right hand and walked in as Shizune, Ino, Karin, Tonton, and Sakura were right behind her. When they made it in they followed Tsunade, who was walking through hallways of books.

"As you 3 are now my apprentices, you need to learn information of being a medical ninja." Tsunade said. "That is why we're here."

"What kinds of information are we looking for?" Sakura asked.

When they made it to the back of the Library, Tsunade and Shizune, and Tonton stopped walking making Ino, Karin, and Sakura stop as well.

"See for yourself." Tsunade said, folding her arms together.

Ino, Karin, and Sakura walked ahead of Tsunade, Shizune, and Tonton and looked at the end of the Library to see it was a little dark and lots of books were on the shelves.

"Which books do we have to read?" Ino asked.

"All of them." Tsunade said.

Ino, Karin, and Sakura looked at Tsunade.

"Huh?!" Ino and Sakura asked shocked.

"Yep." Tsunade said.

Ino, Karin, and Sakura looked forward again.

Sakura spreaded her arms out. "We have to learn... all of this?!" she asked.

"Yes, every single one." Tsunade said.

Ino closed her eyes smiling, her right hand on her face. "You can quit if you don't like it!" she said.

Sakura turned around and looked at Ino angrily, growling, making Ino laugh a little bit.

Tsunade turned to Shizune. "We should let them get started." she said.

Ino and Sakura ran and stopped at one of the bookshelves.

Shizune looked at Tsunade. "Hai." she said.

Karin looked around at the books and scrolls as she recognized all of them. Tsunade, Shizune, and Tonton were about to turn around and walk away until they heard Karin speak.

"Tsunade." Karin said.

Tsunade, Shizune, and Tonton stopped as they looked at Karin.

Karin turned around and looked up at Tsunade. "I already know all of this information..." she said.

"Huh, all of it?" Tsunade asked.

"Hai..." Karin said.

"So how did you learn it?" Tsunade asked.

"Mom and Aunt Kushina taught me and I've read every book about this..." Karin said.

"So what did you revive?" Tsunade asked.

"A fish and octopus..." Karin said.

Tsunade unfolded her arms. _"I see.. so Uzume and Kushina were right about her, she's a fast learner and is really smart."_ she thought. "Okay, how about I teach you something new that they haven't taught you yet somewhere else?" she questioned.

"Hai..." Karin said.

Tsunade turned to look at Shizune. "Shizune." she said.

Shizune looked at Tsunade. "Yes, Tsunade-sama?" she asked.

"Watch Sakura and Ino while I train Karin somewhere else." Tsunade said.

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." Shizune said then turned around to see Ino and Sakura, who were reading 2 of the books on the shelves.

"Let's go." Tsunade said then turned around and walked away.

"H-hai..." Karin said, following Tsunade.

When they made it to the Library entrance, Tsunade stopped walking, making Karin stop as well.

Tsunade turned around and looked down at Karin, serious. "Why do you want to become a Ninja?" she asked.

"... So I can help others..." Karin said.

"Listen Karin, you have to toughen up and stop being shy, especially on missions." Tsunade said. "The enemies won't go easy on you."

Karin's eyes widened a little at what Tsunade just said to her.

"Your mother was shy but on the missions she did she was serious." Tsunade said. "People will walk all over you. But I know you'll surpass both your mother and your father."

 _"I will...?"_ Karin thought confused.

"Now then, let's get started." Tsunade said.

"H-hai..." Karin said.

* * *

1 month later.

Night Time.

Fish Market.

Karin was walking to the back of the Fish Market as she was done training for today. She and her outfit was slightly dirty from training by herself. Shizune and Tonton were at the Hotel sleeping.

When Karin made it to the back of it she saw Tsunade standing next to a green couch but was not facing it while Ino and Sakura were each standing in front of a table. Ino's table had a small brown octopus and Sakura's table had a red fish. Each of the animals had a small green scroll under them. Everyone noticed that Ino's ponytail was now at a shoulder length.

Karin stopped walking when Tsunade was done explaining to Sakura about the fish, watching the scene.

"This thing?" Ino and Sakura questioned.

"Usually, the way to resuscitate a creature that has asphyxiated is to stimulate the heart or brain with chakra." Tsunade said.

Ino and Sakura looked up at Tsunade.

"Octopi generally have 1 systemic heart and 2 branchial hearts. And separate from the brain, they have 8 nervous systems in their arms." Tsunade said then unfolded her arms. "It has many organs vital to resuscitation. In other words, it has a lot of parts that need to be taken care of."

"Oh..." Ino and Sakura said, looking down at the octopus and fish.

Tsunade looked at Ino and Sakura as they started to use the Mystical Palm Technique with both hands on the octopus and fish.

Karin started to walk forward again as she saw that Ino and Sakura were working.

Tsunade looked to see Karin walking towards her. "So you've returned." she said.

Karin stopped in front of Tsunade. "I've finished my training for today." she said.

"Very good, but you should rest for awhile." Tsunade said.

"Hai." Karin said then turned around to look at Ino and Sakura. "I suppose they'll be doing that for awhile."

"For about 3 months." Tsunade said.

Karin looked at Tsunade again. "I'd better head back." she then turned around and walked away.

...

Night Time.

One of the Hotel Rooms.

Karin was sitting one of the 4 hotel beds, whose bedsheets are grey, and was writting on a beige scroll with her right hand, writing to her relatives.

 _"Dear Aunt Kushina and Uncle Minato, everything is going great. Tsunade's teaching me new Jutsus but Ino and Sakura are now learning the Mystical Palm Technique, which Tsunade said 'it would take them 3 months to learn' while it took me 10 days. It would take awhile for the 3 of us to physically train together but I would still be ahead of them. However, I miss you guys and also Oniisan but I hope you write back soon._

 _From, Karin."_

Karin wrapped the scroll with both hands before she stood up from her bed and walked over to the window and opened it up with her left hand and held it up outside for a moment before a brown bird landed on it. She put the scroll in it's black pouch with her right hand.

"Off you go." Karin said.

The bird flew away from Karin and into the air. She lowered her left hand as she watched the bird flew off into the sky before she closed the window with both hands before she walked over and sat back down on the bed.

"What are you doing now, Oniisan?" Karin said to herself.

* * *

3 months later.

Day Time.

Fish Market.

Karin, now 13 years old, was standing next to the pillar next to the stairs, Tsunade was standing a few feet away from the couch and folding her arms, and Ino and Sakura were standing in front of their tables with their octopus and fish with the green scrolls underneath them. Ino and Sakura weren't wearing their Forehead Protectors on their bodies.

Karin heard that Tsunade poured water on Ino when she was exhausted and laying on the floor and hit Sakura on the head with a fan when she tried to fall asleep and also Karin came here one morning to find Tsunade, sleeping on the couch and Ino and Sakura were sleeping on the floor where many ripped scrolls were on the floor as well.

Ino and Sakura started to remember something.

...

 _Flashback._

 _2 months ago._

 _Night Time._

 _Ino was using the Mystical Palm Technique with both hands on the octopus until the scroll below ripped into pieces, making her stop and close her eyes as she backed away a little._

 _"That happens because your chakra is too rough." Tsunade said, sitting on the couch._

 _Ino opened her eyes then turned around as she looked at Tsunade._

 _Tsunade raised her left hand. "You have to fine-tune your method, or the octopus would be ripped apart." slashing the air with her left hand. "Control your chakra more delicately!"_

 _"H-hai!" Ino said nodding._

 _Ino walked over to where the pyramid of scrolls were and grabbed one of them with her right hand and carried it with both hands before she walked back over to the table. She placed the new scroll on the right side of her on the table before she picked the octopus up with her right hand and placed the ripped scroll on the ground and rolled out the new scroll before she placed the octopus on it and placed her hands a few inches above it before she used the Mystical Palm Technique again._

 _..._

 _2 months ago._

 _"I'll never lose to you!" Ino and Sakura yelled._

 _Flashback ends._

 _..._

Ino, Karin, and Sakura were looking at Tsunade.

"It's 3 months today." Tsunade said. "Try it, Sakura."

"Hai!" Sakura said.

Sakura turned towards her table and put her hands on the fish before she did the Mystical Palm Technique on it. Everyone watched for a minute before Sakura stopped doing the Technique as the fish flopped around as it was now alive. Sakura turned to Tsunade as she smiled at her.

Tsunade turned to Ino. "Now it's your turn, Ino." she said.

"Hai!" Ino said

Tsunade, Karin, and Sakura watched as Ino turned towards her table. Ino made a hand sign before she put her hands on the octopus before she did the Mystical Palm Technique. Karin saw Sakura made her hands into fists before she looked back at Ino.

Ino yelled before the octopus started to move, she stopped doing the Mystical Palm Technique as she smiled when it was now alive, turning a little pink on her face.

"You did it!" Sakura yelled smiling as her hands were in the air, her eyes closed.

Tsunade and Karin watched as Sakura ran over to Ino.

Ino looked at Sakura before Sakura hugged her from behind and stopped hugging her and grabbed both of Ino's hands with her hands, laughing.

"H-hey, Sakura!" Ino said as Sakura was twirling her around.

Sakura stopped laughing and smiling before she released Ino, putting her hands near her. "You took too long, and made a lot of pointless errors." she said then closed her eyes and turned around, folding her arms. "While it took me 3 months too, I was able to complete it more smoothly."

"Shut up!" Ino yelled angrily, making her hands into fists. "You broke my concentration since you kept peeking over at me!"

Sakura unfolded her arms as she turned around to look at Ino, making her hands into fists. "What did you say?!" she asked yelling.

"What yourself!" Ino yelled.

Karin noticed that the octopus was now spraying ink on Ino and Sakura, making them open their eyes and be quiet. The octopus slowly moved away.

 _"They argue like Oniisan and Sasuke."_ Karin thought sighing.

Karin looked at Tsunade and now noticed that she turned around and was secretly laughing.

"You 2 pass!" Tsunade said. "Tomorrow the 3 of you will be training together." then walked away.

...

Sunset.

On top of one of the Village's Buildings.

Tsunade went to a Casino to gamble while Shizune and Tonton went with her to try to talk her out of it.

From left to right, Sakura was sitting down, Karin was sitting down, and Ino was standing as they were looking at the sun.

"What made you start learning Medical Ninjutsu, Sakura?" Ino asked.

Sakura looked up at Ino. "Huh?" she asked then looked forward and looking a little down then closed her eyes, smiling a little bit. "I wanted to create... a place where I belong."

Ino and Karin looked at Sakura.

Sakura opened her eyes. "Naruto... and Sasuke-kun fought many times before they decided to go train to become stronger... I was always in the back, following them... But I'm a member of the team too. I wanted to walk shoulder to shoulder with them." then closed her eyes again. "So I promised myself..." then opened her eyes. "That from now on, I would."

Ino looked at Karin. "What about you Karin?" she asked.

Karin looked forward. "To help many people and also Oniisan." she said.

Ino looked forward as well as she started to think about what her father and Choji said to her.

...

 _Flashback._

 _"It's so you can keep up with them... and in order to protect the Ino-Shika-Cho tradition, and our clan's tradition... That's why I must pass on our Secret Ninjutsu to you." Inoichi said._

 _"After all, together we're the Ino-Shika-Cho trio. Do your best too! Okay, Ino?" Choji said._

 _Flashback ends._

 _..._

Ino looked up into the sky. _"Team 10 is where I belong. And... I also want to walk shoulder to shoulder with them. But..."_ she thought then thought of her father.

...

 _Flashback._

 _"Without a doubt, it will take several years to master the Secret Ninjutsu." Inoichi said._

 _Flashback ends._

 _..._

Ino looked down. _"Maybe I was running and taking the easy way out..."_ she thought then looked to the left side and suddenly noticed that Sakura's left hand was injured.

"Hey, those wounds!" Ino yelled, making her hands into fists.

Karin and Sakura looked up at Ino.

Sakura looked down at her left hand, smiling. "Oh, I guess I hurt it earlier. This is nothing." she said.

"That's not good!" Ino said, crouching down.

Karin back away as she saw Ino grab Sakura's left hand with both of her hands and used the Mystical Palm Technique.

Sakura stopped smiling. "Ino..." she said.

Ino smiled. "Thanks, Sakura... very soon I'm going back to the place where I belong..." she said.

 _"I guess, they're becoming friends again."_ Karin thought, smiling to herself.

* * *

4 months later.

Another Unknown Village.

Day Time.

The 6 of them moved to another town that was more than 200 miles from the previous one. Shizune and Tonton were looking up information somewhere. Tsunade, Ino, Karin, and Sakura were in a clear grass area but trees were surrounding it. Tsunade were training Ino, Karin, and Sakura in combat. Over the past few months, Karin was almost completely unshy. Ino, Karin, and Sakura's hair have grown, Ino's was at a mid-back length and it was back to it's original length but it was slightly longer, Karin's was almost at a mid-back length, and Sakura's was back to a mid-back length. Ino and Sakura weren't wearing their Forehead Protectors.

Tsunade had her hands on hips, from left to right Sakura, Ino, and Karin were standing a few feet away from her and also facing her.

"Listen you 3, for Medical Ninja once combat ability is secondary. Have you 3 any idea why?" Tsunade asked Ino, Karin, and Sakura.

"Hai, Ma'am." Sakura said smiling then closed her eyes, raising her right index finger. "Medical Ninja are in the Unit to offer support, we're there to tend to our comrads in battle so it's our healing ability that's the most critical."

 _"That's wrong."_ Karin thought.

"I agree with what Sakura said." Ino said.

"No, it's not!" Tsunade yelled.

Sakura opened her eyes as she stopped smiling, putting her right fist near her chest. Ino and Karin looked at Tsunade.

Tsunade looked at Karin. "Karin, it's your turn." she said.

"Mastering evasion." Karin said.

"Correct." Tsunade said.

"Really?" Ino asked.

"Just dodging then?" Sakura questioned.

Tsunade looked at all of them. "A Medical Ninja must never be hit by an enemy attack." she said.

"Why is that Mi'lady?" Sakura asked then lowered her right hand.

"Yeah?" Ino asked.

Tsunade closed her eyes and put her head down, sighing.

 _"It's really obvious."_ Karin thought.

Leaves blew past them for a moment before they stopped.

Tsunade opened her eyes as she looked at Ino, Karin, and Sakura. "Who will heal the Unit if the Medical Ninja dies?" she asked.

Ino looked in shock while Sakura gasped in surprise then closed her mouth.

"Now I'm come at you 3 hard. You're job is to avoid what ever attack I throw at you 3. This is for real." Tsunade said. "You think you 3 are ready?"

"Hai!" Ino said.

Sakura made a serious face. "H-hai, Mi'lady!" she said, distancing her feet from each other.

"Ready." Karin said.

Ino, Karin, and Sakura stood like that for a moment before Tsunade disappeared. The 3 of them looked up in shock to see that Tsunade was in the air and was going to do her Heavenly Foot of Pain on the ground with her left foot.

Karin quickly backed away but still kept her eyes on Tsunade.

When Tsunade's left foot hit ground it break apart, Ino gasped as she jumped from rock to rock backwards watching from behind and back at Tsunade. Sakura yelled for a moment as she jumped backwards then closed her eyes and her hands were covering her face as small rocks came at her. Tsunade looked at Ino, Karin, and Sakura before she decided to run over to Sakura because her eyes were closed.

"Do not close your eyes!" Tsunade yelled.

Sakura landed on the ground before Tsunade ran up to her and punched her in the stomach her right hand.

Ino and Karin watched as Sakura opened her eyes and removed her hands from her face as she was flying backwards until her back hit a tree, which split in half and fell to the ground and made a dirt cloud, and fell to the ground hard on her stomach then closed her eyes.

"Sakura!" Ino yelled.

 _"Amazing! When Tsunade did that attack when chakra was built up in her left leg and when she punched Sakura as chakra was built up in her right hand. I have to know them."_ Karin thought astounded.

"Why would you close your eyes in the face of the enemy?!" Tsunade asked yelling.

Sakura slowly started to get up, her face a little injured, as her hands were on the ground and lifting herself up and slowly placed her left foot on the ground before she looked at Tsunade.

Ino and Karin looked at Tsunade as well.

"You're to watch their every move! Before their attack, during their attack, and after it! You 3 must not let the slightest distraction escape you 3!" Tsunade said. "If you 3 are any of Shinobi then you girls probably learn this already, but every person has a dominant hand and leg, as well as underlying habits and in that movement patterns are revealed! At Chunin or Jonin level though, a Shinobi has work to reduce those habits to better hide their intentions from the enemy's eye but it's never eliminated completely, there are still moments when 1 can find out the enemy's weak spot!"

Ino and Sakura looked shocked.

 _"Interesting."_ Karin thought.

"The enemy's weak spot?!" Sakura questioned.

"You must discover these flaws as quickly as possible! It will improve your ability to dodge their attack!" Tsunade said. "Now are you 3 ready to continue?"

"Hai!" Ino, Karin, and Sakura yelled.

...

Night Time.

The 4 of them were walking on a dirt path, from left to right Karin, Ino, and Sakura were walking together while Tsunade was a few feet ahead of them. Over the hours that they were training, Ino was hit twice and mostly dodged the attacks, Sakura was hit 5 times and mostly dodged the attacks, and Karin was able to dodge all of the attacks but was sometimes barely able to dodge.

Ino and Sakura had injuries while Karin had no injuries but she has a little bit of dirt on her clothes.

"Those attacks really hurt." Ino said.

"I know but we must focus. After all Tsunade-sama said we need to practice to find the enemy's weak spot." Sakura said, looking at Ino.

Ino looked at Karin. "How is that you weren't hit by her attacks, Karin?" she asked.

"Oh, I was trained to dodge them when you 2 were still practicing the Mystical Palm Technique." Karin said. "But you 2 will get the hang of it."

Ino looked forward then closed her eyes. "I hope you're right." she said.

Sakura looked at Karin. "Karin, can I borrow your scissors?" she asked.

Karin looked at Sakura. "Sure but why?" she asked.

"I want to cut my hair again." Sakura said.

Ino looked at Sakura. "What, why do you want to do that?!" she asked.

Sakura looked at Ino. "Because it's going to get in the way and enemies will grab at it to get me." she said.

Karin watched as Ino and Sakura talk to each other before she looked up at the star lite night sky.

* * *

1 month later.

Clear Grass Area.

Day Time.

Ino and Sakura, who's hair was now at a neck-length, were sitting near one of the trees as they watched Tsunade train with Karin.

Tsunade tried to punch Karin with her right fist only for Karin to jump behind her, then Tsunade turned around and tried to kick Karin with her left leg only for Karin to move to the right. When Tsunade was in front of her, Karin tried to kick Tsunade with her right leg only for Tsunade to block it with her left hand. After a few seconds, Tsunade released Karin's right leg, who placed it on the ground, and Karin took a few steps back from Tsunade.

Tsunade folded her arms. "Your movements have improved greatly." she said.

"Thank you." Karin said.

Tsunade looked at Sakura. "It's your turn, Sakura." she said.

"Hai!" Sakura said, getting up and walking over.

Karin walked over to one of the trees and sat down next to one Sakura walked over to Tsunade and began training with her.

As a few minutes past, Ino looked to the right side at Karin. "So what are going to doing after this?" she asked.

Karin looked to the left side at Ino. "I'm not completely sure, but I am going to be traveling." she said. "What are you going to do?"

"I'm gonna go back to Konoha to learn my clan's techniques and help with the Ino-Shika-Cho tradition." Ino said.

"Good luck on that." Karin said.

"Thanks." Ino said.

Karin and Ino looked forward to see the training of Tsunade and Sakura.

Tsunade tried to kick Sakura with her left only for Sakura jump behind her. Tsunade turned around and tried to hit Sakura with her left hand but Sakura ducked and moved to the right side, which Tsunade followed her.

Sakura made her right hand into a fist. "Take this, Shannaro!" she yelled, raising her right fist as she tried to punch Tsunade, who immediately blocked it with her right hand.

Tsunade placed her right hand down as Sakura placed her right hand down as well before she took a few steps back.

"Your movements are getting better." Tsunade said.

"Thanks, Tsunade-sama." Sakura said smiling.

Tsunade turned to look at Ino. "Ino, it's your turn." she said.

"Okay." Ino said then stood up from the ground and started to walk over to Tsunade.

"This is going to be a long day." Karin said.

...

20 minutes later.

Tsunade had her arms folded as from right to left Sakura, Ino, and Karin were standing a few feet away from her.

"Very good today. By the way, do you remember the first thing I taught you 3?" Tsunade asked.

"Of course Ma'am. Medical Ninja must never get themselves killed thus must never force their way forward in combat." Sakura said smiling.

Tsunade closed her eyes, tilting her head down. "Yes, that is true." she said, opening her eyes and looked down at Ino, Karin, and Sakura, serious. "But at the same time, that does not excuse you girls from learning how to fight on the front line."

Ino, Karin, and Sakura looked at Tsunade curiously.

"And what I'm teaching you 3 right now, keep it in your hearts as you 3 continue training, got it?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes." Sakura said serious.

"Hai." Karin said.

"Of course." Ino said.

* * *

2 months later.

Clear Grass Area.

Day Time.

Ino was learning something from Shizune today and Sakura was learning a special technique today. Karin was sitting under the shade of one of the trees as she declined Tsunade's offer to learn the special technique because she was an Uzumaki, while Ino declined the offer as well.

Karin listened in on the conversation of Tsunade and Sakura, whom were standing a few feet apart from each other.

Tsunade had her arms folded. "Next, I'm going teach you the Jutsu to revive all of the organs, the entire system. It's called the Ninja Art: Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu." she said.

"Ninja Art... Mitotic Regeneration?" Sakura questioned curiously.

Tsunade nodded. "This isn't a Jutsu that revolves around healing skills. It's the same kind of regeneration jutsu that the First Hokage used. The First Hokage had such enormous chakra that he could active it without weaving signs." she said.

"I don't have that kind of immense chakra." Sakura said, sweating on the left side of her face.

"So... there's 1 more Jutsu I will teach you." Tsunade said. "It's called 'The 100 Healings Jutsu'."

"The 100 Healings Jutsu?" Sakura asked confused.

"Even I don't have the kind of chakra that the First Hokage had. So I developed this Jutsu. By using it, you can keep a huge amount of chakra in reserve. By combining these 2, the body will continue to regenerate and you will not die during that time." Tsunade said.

"A-amazing..." Sakura said.

"However, there's a problem with The 100 Healings Jutsu. Not only does it require extremely delicate chakra control, you must amass chakra for 3 years." Tsunade said.

"3 years...?" Sakura questioned.

"You have to have a constant amount of chakra infused. Well, you must maintain that state for 3 years!" Tsunade said.

Karin just stared at Tsunade and Sakura.

* * *

10 days later.

Day Time.

Library.

Karin was walking through the one of the many bookshelves to find a book that her Aunt Kushina wrote her about. She just finished learning the 'Heavenly Foot of Pain', 'Chakra Enhanced Strength', and 'Cherry Blossom Impact' after a few weeks.

Ino was writing to her parents before she would come to the Library. Shizune and Tonton were gathering information again.

"It should be around here somewhere." Karin said, looking around.

Karin stopped walking as she looked to the left side to see a brown book on one of the books elves, she was looking for at her level.

"There it is." Karin said, walking over to it then grabbed it with her right hand.

Karin suddenly looked up as she suddenly sensed 2 familiar chakras in the Library. _"Oh, I almost forgot that they were here."_ she thought then walked to the end of one of the bookshelves to one pillar on each side, 5 large windows, 1 pool of water on each side, Sakura sitting down on the floor, who had her eyes closed and making a hand sign with both hands, and a large brown desk behind Sakura.

Karin sensed that drops of Sakura's chakra were going to her head and she saw that Sakura was was breathing, sweating, and exhausted before she closed her mouth. Tsunade, who had her arms folded, was standing on the left side of Sakura where the pillar was at.

 _"I have to maintain this condition for 3 years?!"_ Sakura thought.

"All right. That's pretty good." Tsunade said.

Sakura opened her eyes and looked up at Tsunade smiling, blushing a little.

* * *

4 days later.

Another Unknown Village.

Day Time.

Forest.

From left to right, Tsunade had her hands folded, Sakura, and Ino were standing on the ground while Karin was standing in front of a rock and had her left fist up in the air as she was building up chakra in it to use the Chakra Enhanced Strength Technique.

"Ahhh!" Karin yelled before she hit the large rock with her left hand, causing the rock to break and some of it to collapse before she backed away from it.

"Excellent work, Karin." Tsunade said.

Karin looked up at Tsunade then smiled a little.

Tsunade turned to the right side to look at Sakura. "It's your turn, Sakura." she said.

Karin noticed that Sakura's chakra was extremely low.

Sakura made her hands into fists before she walked over to the rock and made a stance as she raised her right fist. Sakura yelled before she closed her eyes and fell on the rock panting as she slid down it.

"Sakura!" Tsunade yelled.

"Sakura!" Ino yelled before running over to Sakura.

Sakura continued to pant in exhaustion.

...

6 hours later.

Hotel Room.

Sakura was laying awake on one of the 4 beds and under the red covers as Tsunade, Shizune, Karin, Tonton, and Ino were sitting on their own beds.

"Due to the effect of The 100 Healings Jutsu, your normal chakra level has become extremely low. This will only be a hindrance during healing and in battle. At this rate, I can't allow you to perform any surgery or go out into the battlefield." Tsunade said.

* * *

2 days later.

Day Time.

Forest.

Karin and Ino were training with Tsunade as they were trying to attack her together while Sakura was mediating under a large tree that had a lot of shade and also building up chakra in her head again, her eyes closed.

 _"The 100 Healings Jutsu creates a smaller secondary dam in order to store the chakra reserve... If I keep 2 dams of chakra and make sure I use each of them for their specific purpose... I should be able to perform surgery as well as fight in battles!"_ Sakura thought.

* * *

1 year later.

Day Time.

Karin, now 15 years old, her hair was at a waist length, and in her new usual outfit, brown narrow glasses, a lavender long sleeved uniform shirt that exposes her navel and some of her stomach with the Uzumaki crest on the back, short black shorts, long black thigh high stockings, black shuriken holster with white tape around her left leg, a medium sized grey backpack on her shoulders, and black sandals, was walking on a dirt path to another Village to find books and scrolls about Fūinjutsu as she wanted to learn more about it.

It has been 2 years since Karin left Konohagakure with Tsunade and Shizune to train and learn more abilities. And 10 months have past since the 3of them stopped training with Tsunade. When their training was completed, Ino left 2 months before Karin and Sakura so she can go back to Konohagakure to train with Shikamaru and Choji for the Ino-Shika-Cho tradition and learn the Yamanaka clan's techniques, Sakura also went back to Konohagakure 5 months after Karin left and started working at the Hospital but still trains and works on the 'The 100 Healings Jutsu'. Tsunade, Shizune, and Tonton went back to Konohagakure so they could help Minato and others.

As Karin continued to walk she noticed that she was a few feet away from the Unknown Village and sensed many chakras up ahead, and a few minutes later she walked into the crowd of people. She started to look around to spot any Hotels to stay for the night then she spotted a yellow and orange Hotel that had brown roofs. She walked over to it and entered inside to see a fair skin slim woman who looks to be in her early 20's had shoulder length brown hair, blue eyes, wearing short sleeved red uniform shirt, long sleeved red uniform pants, and black sandals, at the front desk.

"May I help you, Miss?" the woman asked smiling.

Karin walked over to the front desk. "Yes, I would to stay in one of your rooms for the night." she said, stopping in front of the desk.

"Well there are 4 rooms available." the woman said.

"Is there an available room on the second floor?" Karin asked.

"Just one." the woman said then looked down as she slid open one of the desk draws with her right hand and pulled out a silver key that had a beige tag around it that had the numbers '205' on it in red colors with her right hand. "Here you go, Miss."

"Thanks." Karin said, grabbing the key from the woman with her left hand.

Karin walked over to the stairs before walking up until she saw a sign that said '200's' then walked to the right side and stopped when she saw the room 205. She lifted her left hand and placed the key into the hole and twisted with her right hand before she took it out and opened the door and stepped in before she closed it shut and locked it with her left hand.

Karin took off her sandals near the door before she walked over to the single bed that had blue bedsheets on it. She took off her backpack with her right hand and laid it on the left side of the floor before she laid on the bed on her back then stared up at the cieling for awhile.

Karin closed her eyes as she started to remember her older brother, Naruto.

...

 _Flashback._

 _2 years ago._

 _Day Time._

 _Konohagakure Gate._

 _From left to right: Kushina, Karin, and Minato, in their old usual outfits, were standing a foot away Naruto who was wearing a grey backpack on his shoulders and Jiraiya standing on the left side of him. After hearing that Sasuke went on that mission Naruto decided that he wanted to train with Jiraiya on the road. Karin also sensed 4 familiar chakras coming towards them._

 _"You didn't have to see me off." Naruto said smiling, his eyes closed._

 _Kushina leaned forward with her hands on her hips. "Now that won't do, dattebane!" she said._

 _Naruto opened his eyes as he stopped smiling and became scared and nervous when he saw her scary face._

 _"Now listen carefully, Naruto. The 3 Prohibitions of the Shinobi must be strictly observed!" Kushina said then closed her eyes. "Jiraiya-sensei tends to be too lax." then opened her eyes again. "Don't you dare imitate his bad habits!"_

 _"The bad habits they keep mentioning..." Karin thought._

 _Minato smiled nervously as his eyes were closed. "I'm sorry... She insisted on seeing you off." he said._

 _Karin moved backwards as Kushina moved towards Minato, who turned to Kushina's direction and held up his hands midway nervously._

 _"That goes without saying, dattebane!" Kushina said then made a worried face as she held up her fist near her face. "What if Naruto picks up bad habits while accompanying Sensei on his Intel gatherings?!"_

 _Minato lowered his hands._

 _Kushina unfisted her hands. "I worry enough about his antics and recklessness." she said._

 _Naruto closed his eyes as he smiled nervously._

 _Jiraiya folded his arms as he closed his eyes. "Don't worry. If he gets in my way, I'll just transport him away to Mount Myoboku or someplace." he said._

 _Naruto stopped smiling as he opened his eyes and looked up at Jiraiya. "Mount Myoboku?" he questioned._

 _Kushina stopped making a worried face as she lowered her hands and moved to where she was standing. Karin moved forward to where she was standing._

 _Everyone looked at Minato, who had a gloomy cloud hanging over him._

 _"No matter what kind of food you're served, just hang in there." he said._

 _"U-Uh-huh." Naruto said, nodding._

 _"Hey..." a familiar boy voice said._

 _Jiraiya, Minato, Kushina, Naruto, and Karin turned to see Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, in her usual outfit, and Sakura were standing a few feet away from them._

 _"Be careful on your journey." Shikamaru said smiling his right hand in his right pocket._

 _Naruto stepped a little towards them. "You guys!" he said._

 _"Just don't go overboard. If you try too hard, you'll make us look like we're slacking off." Choji said._

 _Ino quickly looked at Choji. "What're you saying?! We're going to work hard too!" she said then turned forward and crossed her arms as she closed her eyes. "I refuse to be a genin forever!"_

 _Shikamaru, Choji, and Sakura looked at Ino._

 _Sakura closed her eyes and placed her right hand on her right hip as she turned to the right side, smiling. "I'll have you know, I'm on the track to go straight to the top." she said._

 _Shikamaru took his right hand out of his right pocket as he, Choji, and Ino looked at her._

 _Sakura turned forward. "I already have a place to train." she said._

 _Ino looked at Sakura surprised. "Huh?! When did this happen?!" she asked._

 _Sakura opened her eyes and looked at Naruto. "I'm not going to lose to Naruto." she said._

 _Naruto smiled at Sakura. "Roger, dattebayo!" he said, closing his eyes._

 _"Hey..." Jiraiya said._

 _Everyone turned to see Jiraiya walking out of the Konohagakure Gate._

 _"It's about time to leave." Jiraiya said._

 _Naruto had both fists near his stomach. "Right! I'm ready!" he said then lowered his hands before he followed Jiraiya then turned to look at everyone one more time. "Okay! I'm off, dattebayo!" he said waving his right hand before he lowered it and continued to follow Jiraiya._

 _Flashback ends._

 _..._

Karin sighed. _"Oniisan.. I wonder what you're doing right now?"_ she thoughtt then started to remember something else of the past.

...

 _Flashback._

 _2 years ago._

 _Uzumaki clan compound._

 _Karin's (Ryo and Uzume's) house._

 _Karin, in her old usual outfit, was reading a book at the kitchen table and sitting in one of the chairs. She was about to read more until she suddenly sensed a very familiar chakra was quickly heading towards her house._

 _"I wonder why is he coming here...?" Karin thought, closing her book with both hands._

 _Karin stood up from her chair and walked out of the kitchen and into the living room. She slid one of the shoji doors open with her left hand to see Sasuke, in his temporary outfit and a green backpack on his shoulders, looking at her._

 _"Oh hello Sasuke..." Karin greeted shyly._

 _"Karin, I'm here to say goodbye." Sasuke said._

 _"Goodbye...? Are you going somewhere...?" Karin asked confused._

 _"I'm going to be shadowing other Uchihas in the Police who are going on a mission to the Feudal Lord's office that is a long term mission." Sasuke said._

 _"Then what about Team 7...?" Karin asked._

 _"I asked my father to transfer me off of Team 7 so I can shadow other Uchihas that are going on the Feudal Lord's mission." Sasuke said._

 _Karin became shocked but didn't say anything before she said something else. "W-w-well... do your best out there..." she said shyly._

 _"I will but what are going to be doing?" Sasuke asked._

 _"I'm going to be traveling with Tsunade in a few days..." Karin said._

 _Sasuke smiled. "That's great, Karin. You'll be great." he said._

 _Karin blushed furiously as she looked down at the floor. "Thank you, S-sasuke..." she said shyly._

 _"I better get going they're probably waiting for me." Sasuke said then started to turn around._

 _Karin looked up as she stopped blushing. "W-wait..." she said._

 _Sasuke turned around to look at Karin again. "What is it?" he asked._

 _"I want to give you something... Please wait right here, I'll be right back..." Karin said before she quickly went back into the house._

 _..._

 _2 minutes later._

 _Karin came back out of the house and with an object in both of her hands. Sasuke looked down at the object in Karin's hands to see a small rock that was bright orange but was crimson red at the center. He'd never seen a rock like it before._

 _"I-I want you to have it, Sasuke..." Karin said._

 _"Where did you find this rock?" Sasuke asked._

 _"2 months ago I found it near the lake..." Karin said._

 _"Are you sure that I can have it?" Sasuke asked._

 _"H-hai..." Karin said._

 _Sasuke slowly took the rock from Karin's hands with his right hand before he looked at the stone up close before he placed it in his right pocket. "Thanks." he said._

 _"You're welcome..." Karin said shyly._

 _"I also have something for you." Sasuke said._

 _"Huh...? What would that be...?" Karin asked confused._

 _"This." Sasuke said before he stepped forward and kissed Karin on the left side of her face._

 _Karin blushed furiously as her eyes widened._

 _Sasuke pulled away before he smirked. "Goodbye Karin." he said before he disappeared._

 _Karin stood there for a few moments before she placed her left hand on the left side of her face, sensing that Sasuke was moving away from her location. "W-why did he do that...?" she thought shocked._

 _Flashback ends._

 _..._

Karin quickly opened her eyes and rose up her upper half, touching the left side of cheek with her left hand. _"W-wait.. W-why did I suddenly remembered that..?!"_ she thought shocked.

Karin's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she heard a few taps, she looked to the right at the window to see a brown bird outside of it.

"Someone sent me a message? I already accepted a scroll from Aunt Kushina hours ago." Karin questioned, removing her left hand from the left side of her face.

She stood up from the bed and walked over to the window and slid it opened with her left hand and took a brown scroll from it's red pouch and unwrapped the scroll with both hands before she started to read it.

 _"Dear Karin, I was wondering if you would like to participate in the next Chunin Exams that's being held here in the Konoha and The Sand Village in a few days? Sasuke-kun and Naruto aren't going to be entering in the Exams because of their training, so I thought that me, you, and Ino could enter in together as a team for awhile."_

 _From, Sakura._

Karin looked at the opened scroll for a moment. _"I can't join the Exams, I have to keep searching. And Oniisan and Sasuke are not even entering just like I'm not. I'll enter some other time."_ she thought, wrapping the scroll back up with both hands and placed it on the bed with her left hand.

Karin walked over to the left side and opened her backpack with her right hand and pulled out a light blue scroll and red colored pencil before she closed it back with her left hand then sat back down on the bed as she opened the scroll with both of her hands before she started to write with her left hand.

 _Dear Sakura, I'm sorry but I can't enter the Chunin Exams because I'm still searching for information and I'll enter next time with 2 others. Even though I'm not entering why not ask Choji and Ino to enter since Shikamaru became a Chunin in the last Exams?_

 _Karin._

Karin wrapped the scroll back with both hands again and walked over to the window and placed the scroll in the bird's pouch with her right hand before it started to fly off. She watched as the bird flew high into the sky.

 _"I wonder how everyone will do in the Exams?"_ Karin thought then slid the window closed with her left hand.

* * *

3 and a 1/2 months later.

Day Time.

Near Konohagakure.

Karin, with her backpack on her back, was a few feet away from the Konohagakure Gate, she took a deep breath as she was little nervous going to The Hidden Leaf because it had been 2 and 1/4 years since she left the Village to train.

 _"Okay, you can do this Karin, you've faced difficult challenges than this. It's nothing."_ Karin thought to herself.

As Karin reached the Gate, she noticed 2 Konoha Shinobis, Kotetsu Hogane, a 28 year old man that has light brown skin, long spiky black hair, black eyes, little black beard on his chin, wearing his usual outfit, the Konohagakure flak jacket uniform, a white strip of bandage running across the bridge of his nose, a blue Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around his right leg, and black sandals, and Izumo Kamizuki, a 28 year old man that has light brown skin, chin length dark brown hair that that covers the right side of his face, black eyes, wearing his usual outfit the Konohagakure flak jacket uniform that went up to his chin, black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around his right leg, and black sandals, were in front of it.

"Halt." Izumo said.

Karin stopped a few feet away from them.

"State your business here." Izumo said.

"I'm from here." Karin said.

"Do you have any proof of residence?" Kotetsu asked.

Karin reached into right pocket with her right hand and pulled out a small cream colored card that had her information on it. "See." she said, holding it out to them.

Kotetsu took the card from Karin with his left hand before he and Izumo looked at Karin's information then he handed back to her.

"You may pass through." Izumo said.

Karin placed her card back into her right pocket with her right hand before she walked forward into Konohagakure. When she made it she saw that the food places were deserted and a few people were sitting or either leaning against some of the buildings.

"What happened here?" Karin asked shocked, looking around. "These places used to be filled with people when I left."

After a few minutes of walking, Karin was now walking through the wooden fences area.

 _"I wonder how much everyone has changed in the last few years?"_ Karin thought.

Karin saw a fair skin old man that was bald but has little white beard, wearing a green kimono like shirt, long beige pants, and grey sandals, was pushing a medium sized cart with both hands, seeing that it was filled with bag wrapped candy. She looked up when she suddenly sensed 6 chakras were coming to her location.

"Excuse me, Miss. Would you like to buy some candy?" the old man asked smiling, stopping a few feet away from Karin.

"Sure." Karin said smiling before walking over to the old man a little bit then stopped. "How much for 2 bags?"

"4 ryos." the old man said.

Karin reached into her left pocket with her left hand and pulled out 4 coins. "Here." she said, handing him the money.

"Thank you." the man said, accepting the coins with his right hand and put them in his right pocket before he grabbed 2 bags with both of his hands then gave them to Karin, who took them with both hands and placed them in her backpack.

A few seconds after Karin placed the bags into her backpack, she suddenly saw 6 male ninja landed a few feet away from her and the old man.

The 1st one looked to be 16 years old, had light brown skin, slim, long green hair tied up in ponytail that reached his back and 3 bangs, black eyes, a black high collared short sleeved shirt that has the Military Police Force's emblem on the back, black short, brown belt with a sword on the back, black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around his right leg, white tape wrapped around his lower legs, grey shin guards, brown gloves, blue Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead which was mostly covered by his bangs, dark blue sandals, the 2nd one looked to be 17 years old, had light brown skin, buff, neck length black hair, black eyes but they were closed, wearing his usual outfit, a grayish blue sleeveless shirt that had the Military Police Force's emblem on the back, blue Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around forehead but over his hair, brown elbow protectors, brown belt that had sword on the back, grayish blue shorts, black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around his right leg, white tape wrapped around his lower legs, grey sandals, and grayish blue sandals, the 3rd one looked to be 16 years old, fair skin, chubby, mid-back length beige hair, black eyes, wearing his usual outfit, a blue Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, a sleeveless greyish blue shirt that had the Military Police Force's emblem on the back, grey elbow protectors, black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around his right leg, grey shin guards, white tape wrapped around his lower legs, brown belt with a sword on the back, black gloves, and grey sandals, the 4th one looked to be 15 years old, had fair skin, shoulder length dark brown hair, black eyes, wearing his usual outfit, a blue Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead and over his hair, beige elbow protectors, greyish blue short sleeved shirt that has Military Police Force's emblem on the back of it, greyish blue shorts, black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around his right leg, brown belt with a sword on the back, grey shin guards, white tape wrapped around his lower legs, and grey sandals, the 5th one looked to be 17 years old, had fair skin, neck length light brown hair, black eyes, wearing his usual outfit, a short sleeved greyish blue shirt that had the Military Police Force's emblem on the back of it, greyish blue shorts, brown belt with a sword on the back of it, white tape wrapped around his arms, hands, and lower legs, beige elbow protectors, grey shin guards, blue Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead but was covered by his bangs, black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around his right leg, and grey sandals, and the 6th one looked to be 16 years old, had fair skin, shoulder length black hair, black eyes, wearing his usual outfit, a really long sleeved greyish blue shirt that had the Military Police Force's emblem on the back of it, greyish blue pants, brown belt with a sword on the back of it, white tape wrapped around his lower legs, grey shin guards, black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around his right leg, and grey sandals.

Karin looked to see that the old man was starting to get scared before she looked back at the 6 male Ninjas.

"Hey you! Who gave you permission to open up to sell those?!" the 1st one asked yelling as he and the other 5 boys started walking them.

"I'm sorry, but I need the money to help my family." the man said, sad and scared.

"That's still no excuse." the 1st one said as he and the other 5 boys stopped near them. "Never mind that. Come with me." then reached for the old man with his right hand only to be grabbed by Karin's left hand.

"What's wrong with you, harrassing an old man?!" Karin said before she pushed the 1st one's right hand away with her left hand.

"What, who are you?!" the 1st one asked.

Karin turned to look at the old man. "You can go now." she said.

"Are you sure?" the old man asked.

"Of course." Karin said. "Please get going."

The old man glanced at Karin for a moment before he started to move his cart away from them with both hands.

"Hey!" the 1st one yelled.

Karin blocked the 1st one from going anywhere to the old man. _"So, these people are the reason why the streets are mostly deserted. But who's command are they under? Is it Fugaku or someone else in line?"_ she thought.

"Out of our way!" the 1st one said.

"That's not going to happen." Karin said before she suddenly sensed a very familiar chakra coming towards them. _"Why is he coming over here?!"_ she thought.

"We're taking you into custody along with him." the 1st one said.

"Try it!" Karin said.

The 1st one grabbed Karin's right hand and pulled her harshly towards him. Karin raised her left hand and used Chakra Enhanced Strength on the 1st one's stomach, sending him and the other 5 boys backwards and crashing into the wooden fences.

A few seconds after Karin lowered her left hand, the very familiar chakra landed a few feet away from her. Karin's eyes widened when she saw it was Sasuke, who was now 15 years old, had become taller, his hair has gotten a little longer especially his bangs which hung below his chin, wearing his Military Police Force uniform, a long sleeved light blue shirt which was a little rolled up at the sleeves with the Konoha Military Police Force symbol on the shoulders, light blue pants, grey shin guards, black Konohagakure flak jacket, grey open-front apron with orange diamonds on the bottom, blue Konohagakure Forehead Protector, white tape wrapped around his lower legs, Military Police Force's armband on his left shoulder, sword on the back of him, and grey sandals.

"So you're the one who's breaking-" Sasuke said but was cut off when he recognized who it was. "Karin!"

"Sasuke!" Karin said.

They stood there for a few seconds staring at each other that seemed like hours.

 _"So, he's the lieutenant that caused the streets to go deserted."_ Karin thought. _"What changed him? Also his chakra is stronger than the last time I saw him but his chakra is thick."_

Sasuke watched Karin. _"She's become even more beautiful than the last time I saw her."_ he thought then looked past his left shoulder a little to see his team slowly getting up and grunting in pain from the broken. _"And from the looks of it, has gotten really strong too."_

Sasuke was about to say something to Karin until his team walked up behind him.

"You are under arrest!" the 1st one said before he walked forward but Sasuke put his right hand up to block him.

"No Taiko. Leave her alone." Sasuke said, looking at the 1st one.

"But she just-" Taiko said but was cut off by Sasuke.

Sasuke lowered his left hand as he turned around to face his team. "That's an order. Just continue your rounds." he said.

Taiko and the other 5 Police Force turned around and started to walk away. After a few seconds, Sasuke turned back around to see Karin was no longer there.

...

5 minutes later.

Karin was walking to the Uzumaki clan compound to see her Aunt Kushina after 2 and 1/2 years of traveling. _"I can't believe Sasuke has become that kind of person after almost 3 years."_ she thought.

As Karin continued walking, she suddenly sensed 12 familiar chakras nearby, 11 were humans and 1 was a dog. She walked to the left side and kept walking until she made it to the Training Grounds to see Naruto, now 15 years old, his hair has gotten a little longer and spikier, in his new usual outfit, black and orange jumpsuit that had the Uzumaki clan crest on the back of it, orange jumpsuit pants, black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around his right leg, small beige pouch on the back of his pants, black mesh shirt, black Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead which was long and reached a little behind his back, a white swirl and tassel on the left side of his jacket, Sakura, now 15 years old, hair was at a neck length, in her new usual outfit, a red qipao shirt that was similar to the dress she wore when she was 13, green shorts, black open toed low heel knee high boots, black gloves, red Konohagakure Forehead Protector which she was wearing as a hairband, pink elbow protectors, short pink apron skirt, grey medical pouch, and kunai covered by a green clothed, Shikamaru, now 15 years old, in his new usual outfit, the Konohagakure flak jacket uniform, silver stud earrings, Konohagakure Forehead Protector plate sewn into the left side of his sleeve, green lined mesh armour on his wrists and ankles, Kiba, now 15 years old, in his new usual outfit, an armour plate, black fishnet undershirt, long black pants that reached his calves, black Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, black form fitting black jacket which zips over the chest and sleeves, and black sandals, Akamaru, now 7 years old, now the size of a full sized adult large dog breed, Tenten, now 17 years old, in her new usual outfit, a long sleeved high collared blouse with maroon edges, puffy hakama style maroon pants with the exposed parts covered in bandages and the black shuriken holster removed, black fingerless gloves, black low heel sandals, and a black Forehead Protector wrapped around her forehead, Hinata, now 15 years old, developing a womanly figure, large breasts, her hair at a lower back length and 2 strands at a shoulder-length, in her new usual outfit, a loose fitting lavender and cream colored jacket with lavender cuffs, mesh armour shirt, long navy blue pants, black Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around her neck, black low heel sandals, and black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around her right leg, Lee, now 17 years old, in his new usual outfit, a green jumpsuit, orange leg warmers, Konohagakure flak jacket, black sandals, white tape wrapped around his forearms to his fingers, a red Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his waist as a belt, Ino, now 15 years old, her ponytail was at a waist-length and her bang now covered her right eye which was at a shoulder length, in her new usual outfit, a high collared purple blouse which exposed her midriff, purple skirt, silver stud earrings, mesh armour on her thighs, elbows, and knees, a red hair clip on the left side of her hair, and black sandals, Shino, now 15 years old, in his new usual outfit, a grey long sleeved high collared shirt, long beige pants, black sunglasses, long sleeved hooded beige jacket which covered his head, a small beige bag on his jacket, and grey sandals, Choji, now 15 years old, his spiky hair was at a waist length, in his new usual outfit, a red Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, a red suit with silver plated armour on his torso, arms, and upper legs and having the kanji for 'food' on the front, white tape wrapped around his lower legs, silver stud earrings, and grey sandals, and Neji, now 17 years old, hair was at a waist length and strands at a shoulder length, in his new usual outfit, a white kimono like shirt with long loose sleeves, long white loose pants, black Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, a navy grey apron tied around his waist, and black sandals, were talking to one another. She decided to listen on the conversation for a moment.

"What a drag... Everyone's so uptight in Konoha because of the Police Force..." Shikamaru said.

"The Village used to be such a lively place filled with food stands!" Choji said. "But now they're so strict about regulating everything... it's so deserted..."

"I know. I want to know what Sasuke-kun's thinking..." Ino said then closed her eyes and held up her hands midway. "But he's so unapproachable these days."

"Can we at least try to talk to him?" Tenten asked, placing her right hand on her right hip.

Ino opened her eyes and lowered her hands.

"It's impossible right now." Neji said.

"But we have to at least try." Lee said.

"Maybe we use Shino's insects to do it or maybe I can-" Naruto said was cut off.

"It wouldn't work and he wouldn't listen to you anyway." Shino said.

"What should we do?" Hinata asked worried.

Sakura rosed her left hand up to her mouth, looking worried. "Do you think it will ever go back to how it was?" she asked.

Karin sighed before she stepped out and walked over to them.

The 12 of them stopped talking when they suddenly heard footsteps, they turned around to see Karin walking towards them.

"Karin!" Naruto said, smiling brightly.

"Hi, Oniisan." Karin said smiling then stopped a few feet away from them. "It's been awhile."

"When did you get back?" Sakura asked.

"I thought you were still traveling." Ino said.

"I've decided to stop for awhile since I haven't seen the Village for quite some time." Karin said then walked over to Naruto and hugged him. "But I missed you, Oniisan."

Naruto hugged Karin back. "I've missed you as well, dattebayo." Naruto said.

Karin broke away from the hug. "I sensed that you've gotten stronger." she said.

"Well Pervy Sage has been training me all this time and taught me many of his Jutsus, dattebayo." he said.

"And I see your Chunins now." Karin said, looking at the others.

"Hai." Shikamaru said, opening his flak jacket with both hands before he closed it.

"But don't worry Naruto and Sasuke aren't Chunins either." Kiba said.

"I've heard." Karin said.

"Hai, dattebayo." Naruto said, a little sad.

"So, can someone explain to me why the Police Force have made the Village deserted?" she asked.

Naruto stopped smiling as he and the other 12 stayed silent, some of them making sad faces.

"Isn't anyone going to tell me?" Karin asked.

"Well.. you see.. when Sasuke-kun came back to the Village, he was almost immediately placed as the Lieutenant of the Military Police Force." Sakura said sadly.

"Then he started regulating everything and told people to get permission to open their shops." Shikamaru said. "And if you don't follow the rules, they will arrest you."

Karin closed her eyes, sighing. "I see, so that's why they were trying to do that." she said.

"Huh, what do you mean by that?" Naruto asked confused.

"When I arrived here I bought some candy from an old man, they tried to arrest me and him." Karin said.

The 12 of them looked at Karin, shocked.

"Did something else happened, dattebayo?!" Naruto asked, shocked.

"When I told the old man to leave, I punched one them, which sorta resulted in all of them crashing into a fence." Karin said. "Then Sasuke showed up."

"What?!" Ino asked shocked.

"What did he do?!" Sakura asked shocked.

"He told them to continue paroles somewhere else." Karin said.

"Huh?!" Ino asked shocked.

"He left you with a warning?" Shikamaru asked.

"I left when he was still speaking to them." Karin said.

"You must be really lucky." Choji said smiling.

"Or maybe Sasuke-kun really likes you." Tenten said smiling.

"No, he doesn't and it's not like that." Karin said annoyed.

"Why else would he told them to let you go." Kiba said teasing.

"We're just friends." Karin said.

"Kiba, Tenten stop asking Karin these questions, dattebayo." Naruto said, looking at them.

"He could be your new brother-in-law." Kiba said.

Naruto turned around, annoyed. "What?!" he questioned.

Karin suddenly saw that Ino and Sakura were looking at her suspiciously. _"What's there problem?"_ she thought.

...

20 minutes later.

Uzumaki clan compound.

Karin was walking to her Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina's house, when she made it to the front door she raised her right hand and knocked on the door few times before she lowered it. She heard footsteps before she saw her Aunt Kushina, in her usual outfit, opened the door with her right hand.

Kushina almost immediately smiled when she was Karin, letting go of the door knob. "Is that really you, Karin?" she asked.

"Hai, it's me Aunt Kushina." Karin said smiling.

Kushina almost tightly hugged Karin, who immediately hugged back. Kushina and Karin broke away from the hug to look at each other.

"It's been so long since I've seen you." Kushina said. "And you've changed your appearance."

"I've missed you, too." Karin said.

"Please come inside. I already made tea." Kushina said, grabbing Karin's arms with her hands and pulled her inside.

...

5 minutes later.

Kushina and Karin were sitting on the couch, Kushina was sitting on the left side and Karin was sitting on the right side, holding their cups of tea with both hands.

"So, what happened during your travel with Tsunade-Sensei?" Kushina asked.

"Well, it was tough and a little hard, and you were right about Tsunade's gambling habit." Karin said, taking a sip of her tea.

"I knew you were going to say that and your mother was the strongest out of her previous students." Kushina said.

"I know, you always say that." Karin said.

"Oh, sorry." Kushina said. "But it's true."

"When you, Mom, and Shizune were training with Tsunade, have you 3 ever decided on learning 'The 100 Healings Jutsu'?" Karin asked.

"No, because me and your mother were Uzumakis, who had large chakra preserves, and Shizune wasn't able to learn it because she wasn't powerful enough to learn the Jutsus Tsunade-Sensei taught us, but she was strong non the less." Kushina said.

"Oh, okay." Karin said.

"While you were away, I took care of the house for you." Kushina said.

"Thanks." Karin said.

"And your Mother and Father would've been very proud of you for making your own decisions." Kushina said.

Karin stopped smiling as she continued to look at Kushina then looked at the ground. "Hai." she said. _"I wonder what they would think of me if they were still alive?"_ she thought.

...

1 hour later.

Karin was walking back to her house after 2 and 1/4 years. As she was walking, Karin saw Naruto speaking to Konohamaru, his hair became longer, now 11 years old, in his new usual outfit, a short sleeved beige shirt, a light grey long sleeved zip up jacket with dark grey edges, long black pants, blue Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around his right leg, a long blue scarf, and black sandals, Udon, now 12 years old, his hair has gotten a little longer, in his new usual outfit, a short sleeved blue shirt, a black long sleeved zip up jacket, long light blue pants, blue Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around his right leg, and blue sandals, and Moegi, now 12 years old, her pig tails have gotten longer, in her new usual outfit, a blue Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around her forehead, a violet short sleeved t-shirt, a sleeveless purple vest, a beige layered skirt, and dark purple mid-thigh boots.

Karin continued walking until she made it to her house. She inhaled and exhaled before she slid open one of the shoji doors with her right hand and stepped in and slid it closed behind her. She looked around to see that everything looked the same as she left it but their was no dust in sight. As she was pulled off her sandals with her left hand, she looked down at the small to see that her mother and father's pictures were still there, the candles were orange instead of white, and the vases were now light grey instead of blue and purple but the white roses were still inside.

When Karin was done, she walked over to one of the couches and pulled her backpack off and placed it on with both hands before she walked over to the small table and sat down in front of it in the seize position and closed her eyes and bowed her head as she placed her hands together.

 _"Mom.. Dad.. it has been years since you've died. I came back after training with Tsunade for a few years. Tsunade said that I was great and was her top student. I finally came out of my shell after you 2 tried to. Many things have happened since I've came back but I'm still going to help many people in Konoha like you 2 did. Kushina said in 4 days she going to help me strengthen the barrier around our clan's mask storage temple. I miss you and I will make you proud unlike in the past."_ Karin thought.

Karin opened her eyes and looked up as she pulled her hands apart and stood up from the floor, looking around the living room.

"In a little while, I think I'll go to the store to buy new stuff to decorate." Karin said.

* * *

5 days later.

Morning.

Karin, in her night clothes, a lavender pajama long sleeved shirt long pants, was sleeping in her bed. She replaced her old bedsheets with a dark brown one and her pillow with a baby pink one.

As Karin continued sleeping, she suddenly woke up when she sensed Sasuke coming towards her house. She rubbed her eyes with her right hand before she grabbed her glasses from the night stand with her right hand and put them on then looked at the clock.

"It's 5:01 in the morning." Karin said to herself. "Why is he coming over here?"

Karin pulled the covers off of her with her left hand before she stood up from the bed and walked over to her door and opened it up with her right hand and stepped out before she walked down the hall and down the stairs.

She walked into the living room and over to the shoji doors and waited until she heard a knock on the door before she slid it open with her left hand. Karin looked to see Sasuke, in his Lieutenant outfit, standing in front of her.

"What do you want?" Karin asked, taking her left hand off of the shoji door.

"I see your sensory skills have improved." Sasuke said. "And I came to talk to you."

"It can wait for a few hours." Karin said, placing her left hand back on one of the shoji doors and tried to slide one of them closed only for Sasuke grab it with his right hand.

"Karin, please listen." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Sasuke for a moment, seeing the desperation in his eyes. She sighed. "Fine, come in." she said, moving to the right side to let Sasuke in, who walked in and took off his sandals.

As Karin slid one of the shoji doors closed with her left hand and turned around to see Sasuke was sitting down on the couch. She walked over to the couch.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Karin said, sitting on the right side of the couch next to Sasuke.

"I wanted to say I'm sorry for what they did." Sasuke said.

Karin didn't say anything as she started to stare at the ground.

"But I also haven't seen you in a few days." Sasuke said.

"Maybe it's because the streets are deserted because of your regulations." Karin said then looked at Sasuke.

"It's so that people can't break the rules anymore." Sasuke said.

"And also letting your team beat up people for small crimes and threatening an old woman for trying to open up her shop." Karin said.

"She didn't ask permission to-" Sasuke said but was cut off.

"What happened to you, Sasuke?" Karin asked.

Sasuke didn't say anything but only stared at Karin.

"I remembered when we were kids that we used to visit the shops and the streets were full of people, but now the streets are deserted and all of the Villagers keep saying that you and your team are using harsh methods." Karin said. "How do you expect people to make money if you keep doing that?"

Sasuke looked down at the ground as he heard what Karin just said, then he started to remember all of the times he and Karin explored the shops in the streets.

...

 _Flashback._

 _3 years ago._

 _Day Time._

 _Karin, 12 years old and in her old usual outfit was walking back to the Uzumaki clan compound. She was thinking about at how most of her classmates laughed at Naruto._

 _"Why are they so mean to Oniisan like that?" Karin thought sadly. "What did he do make them treat him like that?"_

 _As Karin continued to walk she suddenly sensed Sasuke quickly coming towards her location. She stopped and turned around to see Sasuke, 12 years old and in his old usual outfit, running towards her._

 _"S-sasuke..." Karin whispered._

 _Sasuke stopped right in front of Karin. "Karin, I want to talk to you about something." he said._

 _"Um.. okay.." Karin said shyly._

 _"Let's go to the Dango Shop first." Sasuke said._

 _Karin blushed furiously as her eyes widened."As in.. a date?!"she thought. Her blush lessened, knowing is not like that, and she thought about something._

 _"B-but Sasuke... you don't like sweets." Karin said shyly, looking down at the ground._

 _"I'll just drink tea and I know it's your favorite place to eat." Sasuke said smiling._

 _"H-hai." Karin said shyly, looking at him._

 _Sasuke and Karin walked for less than 5 minutes and they made it to the Dango Shop. Sasuke and Karin walked inside and looked around. There were a few people sitting at some of the seats. Sasuke and Karin walked over to an empty table with Sasuke sitting on the left side and Karin sitting on the right side. Karin always loves coming here because the dangos here are great._

 _Suddenly a skinny lady with fair skin, who looked to be in her early 20's, had brown hair that reached a waist length, orange eyes with no pupils, wearing a short sleeved white shirt, long red pants, brown sandals, and a black apron, was holding a cream colored note pad and a pencil._

 _"Okay, are you 2 ready to order?" the woman asked._

 _Sasuke looked at Karin. "Karin you order first." he said._

 _"H-hai." Karin said shyly then looked up at the waitress. "Um.. I would like the tri colored dangos and green tea please."_

 _"Okay." the woman said, writing Karin's order down and turned to Sasuke. "And what would you like?"_

 _"Just green tea." Sasuke said._

 _The woman wrote down Sasuke's order and looked at them._

 _"Your orders will be ready in a little while." the woman said then walked off._

 _"So.. u-um... what did you want to talk about Sasuke?" Karin asked shyly._

 _Sasuke turned to Karin. "It's about the graduation, it's coming up soon." he said._

 _"H-hai." Karin said._

 _"How is it going to be organized?" Sasuke asked._

 _"Well... Aunt Kushina told me that everyone will be placed in a different room than our usual one and we will be called alphabetical order to take the test alone." Karin said._

 _"Do you know what we'll be doing?" Sasuke asked._

 _"Aunt Kushina only said that the last thing we'll be doing was the clone jutsu and she didn't say anything else about the graduation test." Karin said._

 _"I see." Sasuke said._

 _Less than 10 minutes later, the waitress came back with a brown circular tray that had their orders on it._

 _"Here's your Tri-colored dangos and tea." the woman said carefully placing the 5 tri-colored dangles sticks on a plate and a cup of green tea in front of Karin._

 _"Thank you, Miss." Karin said smiling._

 _"And here's your green tea." the woman said, placing the cup of green tea in front of Sasuke._

 _Sasuke didn't say anything._

 _"Enjoy." the woman said then left with the tray in her right hand._

 _"What will happen after the graduation?" Sasuke asked before he grabbed his cup of tea with his left hand and sipped some of it._

 _"We will be taking graduation pictures of being genins and a few days later we'll placed into teams of 3." Karin said._

 _Sasuke put down his cup of tea and said nothing._

 _Karin looked down. "I know you'll do great in the test Sasuke... unlike me..." she said._

 _Sasuke looked at Karin._

 _"You've excelled in many of the subjects over the years and I've.. always was.." Karin said._

 _Sasuke stood up from his seat and walked over to Karin and sat next to her on the left side. Karin looked at Sasuke and blushed softly at how close he was to her._

 _"Karin, you're great in the Academy for many years." Sasuke said smiling._

 _"Huh?" Karin asked shyly._

 _"When all of us were running out of chakra, you still had yours." Sasuke said. "And I've always knew since the beginning that you were going to be a great student. You've made higher grades than me in some of the subjects."_

 _Karin blushed furiously before turning away from Sasuke._

 _"You'll do great in the graduation test." Sasuke said._

 _"Th-thank y-you, um Sasuke." Karin said shyly._

 _"I-I should have more confidence in myself like Oniisan and Sasuke..."Karin thought._

 _Flashback ends._

...

Sasuke sighed. "You're right." he said.

"Huh?" Karin questioned confused, looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke stood up from the couch. _"What happened?"_ he thought.

"Sasuke." Karin said.

Sasuke stopped thinking as he looked down at Karin, who was looking up at him.

"Are you okay?" Karin asked.

"I'm fine. I have to go." Sasuke said before he walked over to the door.

Karin watched as Sasuke put on his sandals and stood up and placed his left hand on one of the shoji doors.

"I'll see you later." Sasuke said, opening the shoji door and walked out before sliding it closed behind him.

 _"What was he thinking about?"_ Karin thought, standing up from the couch.

...

A few hours later.

Karin, in her usual outfit, was walking towards the streets of Konoha to buy more supplies for her house. She was thinking about what Sasuke did a few hours ago.

 _"Sasuke left in hurry but why?"_ Karin thought curiously.

Karin stopped thinking as she sensed many people a few feet ahead. When she made it to the streets she saw that all of the shops were open and many people roaming, smiling and talking to each other.

 _"What happened?! It wasn't like this in the past."_ Karin thought then she suddenly remembered Sasuke's attitude when he left her house. _"So that's what Sasuke meant. But why all of a sudden?"_

* * *

2 days later.

Day Time.

Hokage Mansion.

Karin was walking through one of the hallways to get to the Office to see her Uncle Minato, who summoned her by bird for some reason. As she was almost to the Office she sensed a dark but powerful moving away from her Uncle's chakra. She looked to see a frail looking old man coming out of the Hokage's Office, he looked to be 72 years old, had short black shaggy hair, black eyes, an X scar on his chin, wearing his usual outfit, a white long sleeved kimono like shirt, a long black robe that covered his right right, feet, and over his right shoulder, white bandages wrapped around his forehead and right eye, a purple shash wrapped around his waist, and black sandals, was holding a brown cane in his left hand. She continued to walk forward as she and the old man passed each other.

Karin stopped walking and looked a little behind her on the left side to see that the old man was walking farther away from her. _"Who is that man?"_ she thought.

Karin turned forward and walked over to the Hokage Office then she turned the door knob with her right hand before she opened it and entered in, closing it behind her.

"It's nice to see you, Karin." A man's voice said.

Karin looked forward to see her Uncle Minato, in his usual outfit, was sitting at his desk as he was smiling.

"It's nice to see you as well, Uncle Minato." Karin said smiling, walking up a little bit to the desk before stopping. "You wanted to see me?"

"Kushina said that you wanted to start your missions again?" Minato asked.

"Hai." Karin said.

"Do you also want to get back with your team?" Minato asked.

"No." Karin said.

"What kind of rank mission do you want to start with?" Minato said.

"I think I'll start off with an C-rank since I just got back a few days ago." Karin said.

"Okay, your first mission will be is to deliver a scroll to Fugaku." Minato said.

 _"Deliver a scroll to Fugaku... in the Police Force building with Sasuke and those idiots he calls a team...?!"_ Karin thought annoyed.

Minato looked at Karin confused. "Is there something wrong?" he asked.

"Of course not." Karin said.

Minato looked down as he reached into the left side of his desk and pulled out a brown and beige scroll and held it up with his left hand. "Here it is." he said.

Karin stepped forward and took the scroll with her right hand from her Uncle Minato before she looked down at it and back at Minato. "Okay, I'll go deliver it." she said turning around and walking towards the door. "Please excuse me." opening the door with her left hand and walking out, closing it behind her.

 _"Great, now how I'm going to deal with those idiots?"_ Karin thought annoyed. _"Then again I've faced people more annoying than them."_

...

10 minutes later.

Karin looked up as she was standing in front of Konoha Military Police Force building, which was a large beige building that had the Police Force emblem on top of it. She sensed Fugaku's chakra inside but she also sensed Sasuke's, Taiko's, and the other 5 Uchihas. She sighed before she walked up the stairs and opened one of the doors with her left hand and closed it behind her.

Karin started to walk through one of the hallways as she sensed that Fugaku and Sasuke were down one of the hallways but also sensed Taiko and the other 5 boys chakra a few feet ahead of her.

 _"You can do this."_ Karin thought.

Karin walked by a room to see Sasuke's team were sitting on a couch and talking to one another about something. They stopped talking and turned to the entrance to see Karin walking pass the their door.

"What's she doing here?" Taiko said.

"She must be here to cause us trouble." the 3rd one said.

Taiko and the other 5 Uchihas stood up from their couch and walked over to the entrance and stepped out to see Karin was continuing to walk away.

"Hey!" Taiko yelled.

Karin stopped walking.

"What are you doing here?!" Taiko asked, yelling.

Karin turned around to face them, looking annoyed. "I'm here to deliver a message to Fugaku." she said.

"Then we'll take that to him." the 4th one said, holding out his right hand.

"I don't think so." Karin said.

"Like we're going to let you endanger our leader that was probably sent by the Hokage." Taiko said.

"Nothing is wrong with this scroll." Karin said.

"Then hand it over." the 4th one said.

"No." Karin said.

The 6 of them started to walk over to Karin, who folded her arms as she glared at them. They looked like they were about to start a fight until Karin suddenly sensed Sasuke coming towards them. The 6 of them stopped walking when they saw Karin looked to her left before they looked over to where she was staring at to see their lieutenant, Sasuke was walking towards them.

 _"Damn it!"_ Taiko thought.

"What's going on here?" Sasuke said, stopping a few feet away from them.

Karin sighed, closing her eyes. "Nothing, I'm just here to deliver a message to Fugaku." she said then over to the hallway Sasuke was at.

Sasuke watched as Karin walked past him, turning around to see her walking to his father's office.

"Sasuke-san! Why did you let her pass?!" the 4th one asked. "She's delivering a message that was from Hokage."

Sasuke turned around to face his team, serious. "Because she's doing nothing wrong and there's nothing dangerous about that scroll." he said.

"But Sasuke-san-" the 5th one said but was cut off.

"Enough! Go parole the streets." Sasuke said.

Taiko and the other 5 started to walk away to the exit. Sasuke turned around again to see that Karin was closing the door with her right hand.

...

20 minutes later.

Karin was walking towards the exit building as she completed her mission of delivering the scroll to Fugaku. She talked with him for awhile before she decided to leave to go somewhere else.

As Karin made it to the door, she opened it with her right hand and stepped out before closing it with her right hand. She walked down the steps and suddenly stopped, closing her eyes.

"What do you want?" Karin asked.

Sasuke suddenly appeared behind Karin, who turned around to face him.

"I wanted to talk to you again." Sasuke said.

"Just like when you appeared on my doorstep a few days ago and suddenly had to leave?" Karin questioned, folding her arms.

Sasuke stepped closer to Karin. "I had to think about what you said to me." he said then stopped.

Karin didn't say anything.

"You were right, I shouldn't have set so many regulations on people." Sasuke said.

"Is that the reason why the streets are so lively now?" Karin questioned.

"Hai." Sasuke said.

Karin stayed silent for a moment. "So.. what did you want to talk about?" she asked.

"Can we talk somewhere else?" Sasuke asked.

"Um, Sure." Karin said.

Sasuke started to walk forward then Karin turned around and followed after him.

...

1 hour later.

Sasuke and Karin were sitting on the clear grass area of the training grounds, which was deserted. Sasuke was sitting on the right side and Karin was sitting on the left side. They were telling each other about their events of 2 and 1/2 years and in the present. A few minutes ago, Sasuke told Karin that his team members are, the 1st one was named Taiko, the 2nd one was named Haruto, the 3rd one was named Reo, the 4th one was named Kaito, the 5th one was named Riku, and the 6th one was named Asahi.

"So training with Tsunade was a little difficult." Sasuke said, looking at Karin.

"Yeah but it wasn't bad like Aunt Kushina said, as for Ino and Sakura it was for them. Even Sakura is still learning a new Jutsu from her." Karin said, looking up at the clouded sky.

"By the way, you've trained with the Uchihas for how long?" Karin asked, looking at Sasuke.

"A year." Sasuke said.

"Where did you go after that?" Karin asked curiously.

"I've been learning new techniques while traveling." Sasuke said.

Karin sensed something wasn't right, she sensed that Sasuke was telling her half the truth and half a lie, but she decided to skip it for now.

"Well at least you're living your dream." Karin said.

"What dream?" Sasuke asked.

"When we were kids, you always said that you wanted to become part of the Police Force some day." Karin said.

"Oh." Sasuke said. _"But it's not that anymore."_ he thought. "What was your dream? You've never told me." he asked.

Karin looked down at the ground. "I want to help people." she said. "That's one of the reasons I've decided to become a Kunoichi."

"Really?" Sasuke asked, interested.

Karin turned away from Sasuke.

"No I didn't mean it like that I meant that it's great." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Sasuke again.

"Also I have to ask you something." Sasuke said.

"What is it?" Karin asked.

"Would you like to-" Sasuke said but was cut off.

A loud bird song came from the air, Sasuke and Karin looked up to see a brown bird circling around them.

"Well that's my Uncle Minato calling me back so I better go." Karin said, getting up.

"But I still haven't told you." Sasuke said, looking up at Karin.

"Don't worry, you can tell me next time." Karin said then ran off. "See ya."

Sasuke watched as Karin ran off. _"I almost asked her out."_ he thought.

* * *

12 days later.

Night Time.

Forest.

Over the past almost 2 weeks, Sasuke and Karin have been hanging out and so mostly unshy when they were kids. Sasuke tried to ask Karin out a couple of times but it never happened.

Karin was hoping from tree to tree as she was meeting with Sasuke on an A-rank mission. Minato said that the prison from the jail mysteriously escaped and entered the forest. He wanted them to round up each and every one of them before they leave Konohagakure or head into the Village.

When Karin mad it she stopped on a tree branch and placed her left hand on the tree as she saw Sasuke standing on a tree branch a few feet ahead of her. She stared at him for a moment before she disappeared and reappeared on a branch of a tree behind Sasuke, her right hand on the tree.

"I was sent by Uncle Minato to help you out in this mission, just tell me what you need." Karin said.

"Just over 2 hours ago, 118 prisoners escaped from jail." Sasuke said then looked up a little. "Given that time frame they couldn't escape into the Village or leave it yet."

"Uncle Minato said we must capture them alive." Karin said.

"That's right." Sasuke said.

Karin took her right hand off of the tree. "Well then we should get started right away." she said.

Sasuke turned around as he looked at Karin.

Karin closed her eyes as she began using her Mind's Eye of the Kagura, the wind blowing in her hair. _"50, 60... 70, 80, 90, 100..."_ she thought then opened her eyes. "Found them." she said, the wind stopped blowing in her hair.

Sasuke was astounded at Karin.

"I'll take care of the closest ones." Karin said, looking at Sasuke. "1 is back 50 meters. 4 are in the front at 10 o'clock."

Sasuke quickly jumped off of the tree branch.

"He's become in more fast!" Karin said to herself, astonished.

Karin saw Sasuke landed into the trees and saw movements before 4 prisons landed on the ground with grunts of pain. Her mouth was slightly opened as she continued to look at Sasuke, who moved past her and jumped into another tree and hit a male prisoner in the stomach with his right hand and making him fall to the ground in pain.

Sasuke turned his head to the right side a little bit to see Karin in the back. "Can you keep up?" he asked.

Karin spreaded her arms a little. "Of course, it's my mission, you know." she said.

"Karin, you will be my eyes." Sasuke said.

Karin unspreaded her arms. "Hey, don't tell me what to do!" she yelled angrily then closed her eyes again. "3 are located at 1:30... From there, 5 more are preparing to ambush from 9 o'clock."

Sasuke jumped off of the tree branch and Karin followed after him. When Sasuke saw one of the prisoners standing on a tree branch, Karin landed on a tree branch nearby as she watched Sasuke take down the prisoners.

 _"He really has become even faster since 2 and 1/4 years of not seeing each other."_ Karin thought astounded.

...

10 minutes later.

Sasuke and Karin were standing on a tree branch together back-to-back, she was facing the tree while he was not.

"How much?" Sasuke asked, looking at Karin a little on the left side.

"That last one was 84." Karin said then looked at Sasuke a little on the right side. "Your speed has increased but you're too naive when it comes to it."

"I'm not naive. You know there's only one thing I'm trying to reach."

"Reach?" Karin questioned then sensed Sasuke's chakra once more then became amazed again. _"What?!"_ she thought, her eyes widened a little as turned around to face him, seeing his chakra. _"His ... This chakra... He's really... awesome."_ stepping forward and wrapped her arms around his chakra as she closed her eyes, relaxing.

Karin was snapped out of her daydream by a male voice.

"Karin." Sasuke said.

Karin opened her eyes as she pulled her arms apart. Sasuke and Karin both looked up to see 4 prisoners were in the trees above them. Sasuke jumped up as the prisoners tried to attack him in mid-air but he easily defeated them. Karin was so concentrated on Sasuke fighting that one of the prisoners landed on her head, making her lose her balance and slip off the tree branch. One of the prisoners slowly got up and held a knife in his hands as he looked up at Karin. The prisoner that hit Karin landed on the ground with a thud.

Karin turned her head a little bit to the left as she saw the prisoner with the knife looking up at her. _"So, he wants to kill me. That will never happen."_ she thought, making left hand into a fist as she was preparing to use her Cherry Blossom Impact.

Sasuke jumped down from a tree branch he landed on recently. "Karin!" he yelled, quickly going over to her.

Karin was about to turn around until she was Sasuke suddenly appeared and wrapped his arms around her, making Karin surprised as she unfisted her left hand.

The prisoner with the knife became surprised when Sasuke pulled out his sword with his right hand. Sasuke sliced the prisoner with his sword before the prisoner fell dead on the ground. Sasuke placed his sword back behind his back before he and Karin landed on the ground and Sasuke released her but Karin suddenly had her right hand on the left side of Sasuke's waist and her left hand on Sasuke's chest. Sasuke and Karin looked down at the dead prisoner.

"You did that... for me?" Karin asked, looking up at Sasuke.

"I need you, Karin. You're important to me." Sasuke said.

Karin blushed softly as her eyes widened for a second before she snapped out of it then she took her hands off of Sasuke and turned around, folding her arms. "Well we must find more of the prisoners before something happens." then slightly turned to the right to look at Sasuke, who was staring at her.

...

20 minutes later.

Hokage Mansion.

Office.

Sasuke and Karin were standing in front of the desk that Minato was sitting in the chair under and his hands together on the desk.

"You 2 done a great job. 117 prisoners have been returned to jail." Minato said. "But 1 prisoner was dead."

Karin's eyes widened a little.

"He tried to kill Karin so I killed him." Sasuke said.

Minato sighed. "I see." he said.

Karin started to think about what Sasuke earlier.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"You did that... for me?" Karin said, looking up at Sasuke._

 _"I need you, Karin. You're important to me."_ _Sasuke said._

 _Flashback ends._

 _..._

Karin looked down at the floor. _"Why did he..?"_ she thought.

"Karin." a male voice said.

Karin snapped out of her thoughts as she raised her head up to see Minato staring at her concerned.

"Are you okay?" Minato asked.

"No, nothing's wrong. I have to go." Karin said then turned around and walked over to the door and twisted it open with her left hand. "Please excuse me." walking out and closing the door with her left hand.

Karin took a deep breath and exhaled before she started walk to the left side of the hallway. As soon as Karin was a few feet away from the office, she suddenly heard a door opened up and closed, fully sensing who it was. She heard footsteps quickly coming towards her until she felt a hand on her right shoulder. She stopped and turned to see Sasuke had his left hand on her.

"What is it?" Karin asked, turning fully around as Sasuke released his left hand from her right shoulder.

"I wanted to talk to you about what I said during our mission." Sasuke said.

Karin suddenly felt her heart was beating fast. "And?" she questioned.

"I meant what I said and also I was wondering." Sasuke said.

Karin's heart beat even faster.

"If you would like to.. go on a date with me?" Sasuke asked.

Karin felt her heart stop when Sasuke said that to her. "A-a date?" she asked.

"Hai." Sasuke said.

"W-w-well.. okay." Karin said nervously.

Sasuke smiled when Karin said 'yes'. "Great. Meet me at the Training Grounds tomorrow." he said.

"H-hai." Karin said.

...

Tomorrow.

Day Time.

Training Grounds.

Karin, in her casual outfit, a long sleeved beige shirt with the Uzumaki crest on the back, long lavender pants, and beige sandals, was standing alone as she sensed Sasuke coming to her location. She could barely fall asleep as she was thinking about her date with Sasuke.

 _"Okay Karin, you can do this. You've faced bigger challenges than this.. going on a date with Sasuke."_ Karin thought to herself then she gulped. _"This is going to be harder than I thought."_

Karin now sensed that Sasuke was a few feet behind her.

"Karin." a male voice said.

Karin turned around to see Sasuke, in his casual outfit, a long sleeved high collared grey shirt with the Uchiha crest on the back, light grey pants, white tape wrapped around his lower legs, and grey sandals, and she was becoming a little more nervous.

Sasuke walked over to Karin. "You look beautiful." he said, now in front of her.

"Um thanks." Karin said blushing lightly, looking away to the left side. "You too."

Karin slowly looked up at Sasuke before they decided to walk together with Sasuke on the left side and Karin on the right side. They walked for awhile as they were now walking on a dirt path.

Sasuke looked at Karin, who was looking down at the dirt path, then looked forward to see a fair skinned, brown spiky haired man that looks to be in his early 30s, skinny, black eyes, in his usual outfit, a long sleeved kimono like shirt, long black pants, and black sandals, was coming towards them as he was pushing a wooden cart with both hands that had steam coming out of it. He looked at Karin again to see that she was smelling the air and he looked forward and smelled the air that had a delicious scent in the air that was coming from the man's cart.

"Do you want something from the cart?" Sasuke asked.

Karin looked up at Sasuke. "Hai." she said.

When Sasuke and Karin were standing in front of the man's cart, they stopped.

"What are you selling?" Sasuke asked, staring down at the cart.

"Onigiri, steam buns, dangos, and plenty others." the man said.

"I would like 4 Onigiris and 2 dangos." Sasuke said.

"Okay." the man said, pulling out some food from the cart and wrapping it up in dark purple cloth. "That will be 17 ryo."

Karin was about to reach into her pocket with her right hand until Sasuke stopped her by grabbing her with his left hand. She looked up at him to see that he was looking down at her.

"Don't worry, I'll pay for it." Sasuke said.

Karin looked up at Sasuke for a moment before she put her right hand down.

Sasuke released his left hand from Karin before he reached into his left pocket pulled out the amount the man asked for, who took the money from him with his right hand.

"Thank you, come again." the man said, handing the clothed wrapped food to Sasuke with his left hand.

Sasuke grabbed the clothed wrapped food with both hands before he and Karin walked past the man's cart.

...

15 minutes later.

Sasuke and Karin were sitting on a clear grass levee, he was sitting on the left side while she was sitting on the right side and the open cloth was sitting in behind them as 1 dango laid on it. Sasuke was chewing as he was finishing up an Onigiri while Karin was eating a tri-colored dango stick with her left hand as she was looking down at the grass, thinking about something before she placed her dango stick down on the cloth.

Karin swallowed her dango. "Sasuke." she said.

Sasuke swallowed the last of his Onigiri before he looked down at Karin.

"There's something I want to ask you." Karin said.

"What's the matter?" Sasuke asked concerned.

"Do you remember when you said 'goodbye' to me before you left to train?" Karin asked.

"Hai." Sasuke said.

"Why did you kiss you me?" Karin asked.

Sasuke's eyes widened for a moment before they returned to normal and he looked forward. "It's because I love you." he said.

Karin quickly looked up at Sasuke with her eyes widened.

"I've always wanted to do that. Ever since I've known you, I've always had this warm feeling that I like and when Itachi tried to kill you I was anxious to save because I didn't want him to take you away from me forever. When you were sad after your parents passed away I wanted to comfort you. You're one of the reasons why I left to train." Sasuke said.

Karin's cheeks blushed furiously.

Sasuke looked down at the ground to see that Karin's left hand was covering his right before he looked at her.

"D-did.. you really mean that, Sasuke?" Karin asked before she slowly looked at Sasuke in the eyes.

"Hai." Sasuke said, looking at Karin's eyes.

Sasuke and Karin turned towards one another as they continued to looked at each other for a moment before Sasuke decided to lean in towards Karin, who gasped, and kissed her on the lips. Karin blushed the color of her hair as her eyes widened to Sasuke kissing her. After a few seconds, Karin slowly closed her eyes as she kissed Sasuke back, placing her hands to his shoulders as he placed his hands on her back and pulled her closer.

They kissed for a minute before they pulled pulled away panting, looking at each other in the eyes. Karin looked away to the right side before Sasuke placed his left hand on her chin, carefully making her look at him. Karin saw that Sasuke was smiling softly at her.

"Karin, I love you." Sasuke said.

"I-I love you too, Sasuke." Karin said.

Sasuke hugged Karin, who hugged back equally.

...

Tomorrow.

Day Time.

Wooden Fences.

Karin, her usual outfit, was walking through as she still thinking about what she and Sasuke did on their date.

 _"I sensed that Sasuke meant what he said yesterday.. but can me and him really continue dating?"_ Karin thought.

Karin snapped out of her thoughts as she suddenly sensed 2 familiar chakras coming towards her.

 _"Not right now."_ Karin thought annoyed, stopping in place.

2 people landed a few feet away from where Karin was standing as it was Ino, in her casual outfit, a short sleeved orange shirt with green edges and Yamanaka crest on the back, long white pants, and blue sandals, and Sakura, in her casual outfit, a short sleeved cream colored shirt, a vest that looks very similar to her usual outfit shirt, blue skirt, and black open toed knee high boots.

Karin saw that they were staring angrily at her.

"What do you 2 want?" Karin asked annoyed.

"We've heard that you went on a date with Sasuke-kun?!" Sakura questioned.

"So? It's none of your business. Karin asked.

"What ever Sasuke-kun's doing is our business!" Ino said.

"I can't believe you asked him out on a date?!" Sakura asked.

"I wasn't the one who asked him, he asked me." Karin said.

"What?!" Ino asked shocked.

"You lie!" Sakura said.

"If you don't believe me, ask Sasuke." Karin said, walking forward and and past Ino and Sakura, who were still fuming at her. _"They're so annoying when it comes to Sasuke."_ she thought, opening up her eyes.

* * *

End of Chapter 14.

Please Review.

No Flames.


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15.

Please Review.

No Flames.

* * *

3 weeks later.

Day Time.

Ichiraku Ramen.

Karin, in her usual outfit, was sitting in one of the seats and was waiting for Naruto since he called her here to talk about something. Not only did she suddenly sensed Naruto coming but also sensed an other familiar chakra that she didn't want to see right now.

 _"Why is Oniisan coming with her?"_ Karin thought annoyed.

...

1 minute later.

"Hey, Karin!" Naruto said.

Karin turned around to see Naruto, in his usual outfit, and Sakura, in her usual outfit, was standing at the entrance. She saw Sakura giving her an annoyed look.

Karin, Ino, and Sakura used to be friends as they trained together for a few years with Tsunade and Shizune until Ino and Sakura found out that Sasuke and Karin were now dating each other and they started treating her like she was the enemy. Naruto was annoyed that his sister was with Sasuke but he accepted after he warned Sasuke not to hurt Karin in any way.

There was a long silence until Naruto walked in.

"One bowl of your Miso Pork Ramen, dattebayo." Naruto said smiling, sitting next to Karin on the left side.

"I would like Miso Ramen." Sakura said, sitting next to Naruto on the right side.

"And I'll have Miso Pork Ramen." Karin said.

"Coming right up." Ichiraku and Ayame said together, in their usual outfits.

...

10 minutes later.

Naruto, Karin, and Sakura ate in silence before Karin started to say something.

"So.. why did you call me here, Oniisan?" Karin asked, looking at Naruto.

"Well, we wanted you to talk to Sasuke about rejoining Team 7, dattebayo." Naruto said.

Karin closed her eyes as she turned her head forward. "I can't do that." she said.

"Huh?! Why not?" Naruto asked.

Sakura was shocked. "They're trying to find us a replacement. We need Sasuke-kun!" she said.

"Sasuke's now the lieutenant of the Police Force, he wanted to be apart of it since he was a kid." Karin said.

Naruto and Sakura continued to look at Karin.

"And besides, Teams don't stay together forever. For example, the 1st and 2nd Hokage trained the 3rd Hokage, Homaru, Koharu but the team grew apart. The 3rd Hokage trained Jiraiya, Tsunade, and Orochimaru but they grew apart too. Jiraiya trained Uncle Minato, you, and others, Tsunade trained Shizune, my mother, Aunt Kushina, me, Ino, and Sakura, and Orochimaru trained Anko before he became a rogue. Uncle Minato trained Kakashi, Obito, and Rin but unfortunately, Obito and Rin died. Kakashi trained you 2 and Sasuke. It's a matter of time before it happened." Karin said.

Naruto and Sakura made sad faces and stayed silent for a moment before Naruto started to say something.

Naruto looked down, staring into his bowl of ramen. "Yeah but so soon, dattebayo." he said.

"I've disbanded from my team when I went to train with Tsunade." Karin said.

Naruto looked at Karin. "Why didn't you return?" he asked.

Karin looked down as she started to remember all of the horrible things Zosui said to her over the years.

* * *

 _Flashback._

 _8 years ago._

 _Karin, in her old usual outfit, was walking through the hallways she sensed another chakra coming towards her. She looked up to see a man, who had fair skin, black hair that was at a shoulder length and was combed back, grey pupiless eyes, wide but built up body, a huge forehead, wearing a grey Konohagakure forehead protector on his forehead, dark brown-grey kimono like shirt with cream outlines, long black pants, a large white rope tied around his waist, black socks, and black sandals, was walking towards her. She could see that he had an angry look on his face, which frightened her. The man was now in front of her, Karin looked up to see that he was looking down at her more angry than before now._

 _"S-sorry." Karin said shyly._

 _"All of you Uzumakis are weak." the man said._

 _"Huh?" Karin asked confused._

 _"You all are nothing but a disgrace to The Hidden Village." the man said before he continued moving forward. "Should stayed in Uzushiogakure."_

 _The man left, leaving Karin alone in the hallway by herself and tears began forming in her eyes._

 _..._

 _3 years ago._

 _Outside._

 _You 3 will meet back here tomorrow in the afternoon for a test to see if you can work as a team.." Zosui said. "If you pass you all will be assigned missions.. but... you all fail you're going back to the Academy..."_

 _Shigeri, Hiroki, and Karin, in their old usual outfits, looked at Zosui, in his usual outfit, surprised at what he just said._

 _"So I suggest you prepare for it tonight..." Zosui said._

 _"So.. this test is the real Graduation.. not the Graduation test we took a few days ago..."Karin thought._

 _"You 3 are dismissed.." Zosui said then turned to Karin. "Except for you."_

 _Karin became confused as Shigeri and Hiroki started to walk away. When Shigeri and Hiroki were far away from them, Zosui glared at Karin, making her scared._

 _"You especially should be prepared.. you're not going slow your team mates down.." Zosui said glaring._

 _Karin put her hands together near her chest._

 _"I never wanted a filthy and pathetic Uzumaki as my students but they assigned you me..." Zosui said harshly. "You should've have just died with half of them years ago."_

 _Karin gasped at what Zosui just said to her._

 _Zosui just walked away, leaving Karin by herself. Karin looked down as she put her hands down and started to cry, remembering something from the past._

 _..._

 _3 years ago._

 _"All of you Uzumakis are weak." the Zosui said._

 _"You all are nothing but a disgrace to The Hidden Village." the man said before he continued moving forward. "Should stayed in Uzushiogakure."_

 _..._

 _3 years ago._

 _"W-w-why? W-why does he have Uzumakis?" Karin asked, tears streaming down her face. "I-I don't... understand..."_

 _..._

 _3 years ago._

 _Daytime._

 _Afternoon._

 _Karin was standing in front of Zosui, looking sadly up at him._

 _"Your fighting skills on this test was weak, your team mates were trying to defeat me but you merely stood far away and watched." Zosui said. "You should have been sent back to the Academy right now."_

 _Karin looked down sadly._

 _"However.." Zosui said._

 _Karin looked up at Zosui again._

 _"The only reason I've passed you 3 is because you know how to heal your team mates, which would be good for The Hidden Leaf." Zosui said._

 _Don't expect me to teach you anything, train under someone else. As far as I'm concerned your only duty on the team is to heal your 2 team mates." Zosui said. "If you don't heal them properly your status as a Ninja will be terminated permanently, I don't care if you're the Fourth Hokage's niece."_

 _Karin looked down at the ground sadly again. "Hai." she said._

 _Less than 2 months later._

 _..._

 _Forest._

 _Zosui, in his usual outfit, was standing in front of Karin, looking down at her._

 _"The Fourth Hokage wants you work on another team for awhile." Zosui said._

 _"Me? H-he said that?" Karin asked shyly, looking up at him sadly._

 _"I've agreed to what he said since Team 9 we'll be working with a temporary replacement for you." Zosui said._

 _Karin continued to look up at Zosui sadly._

 _"Do whatever they say and don't embarrass this team, doesn't mean that you're a joke doesn't mean the rest of us are." Zosui said. "Keep that in mind."_

 _Karin sadly bowed her head. "Hai." she said then looked up at Zosui again. "Which team will I be temporarily assigned to?"_

 _"Team 7." Zosui said._

 _Karin gasped in shock._

 _..._

 _Almost 2 months later._

 _Konohagakure Hospital._

 _One of the hallways._

 _Karin was standing close to the wall and Zosui, in his usual outfit, was standing a few feet away from her. A white line drawn in the middle of the hallway._

 _"I've signed you and your team members to take part in the next Chunin Exams." Zosui said._

 _"Me?" Karin asked, making sad face._

 _Karin has heard of the Chunin Exams, they were tests and an opportunity for Genin to be promoted to Chunin. The exams structure and evaluation process differ from one exams to the next so that Behind cannot come prepared._

 _This exams displays the strength of Ninja Village through their Genin's abilities. It's considered a war by proxy. We cannot afford to lose. Since you're too weak to right, your only duty is to help and keep the other 2 completely replenished. I only allowed you to join the Team 9... Keep that in mind and make sure you get us good results." Zosui said._

 _Karin closed her eyes as she bowed her head down sadly. "Hai..." she said._

 _..._

 _Day time._

 _One of the Training Grounds._

 _Karin was staring sadly at the ground as she standing a few feet away from Zosui, in his usual outfit, and was looking at angrily at her._

 _"You've been such a disappointment. I hope for better results than this!" Zosui said. "I guess you're just a filthy Uzumaki from Uzushiogakure... so you don't feel any loyalty for Konoha."_

 _"That's not true! I-" Karin said then looked up at Zosui but was cut off from speaking._

 _"Then prove it. Hurry up and go on a mission with your team members." Zosui said._

 _"A mission?" Karin questioned sadly._

 _"It's a C-rank." Zosui said._

 _Flashback ends._

* * *

As she was done remembering, Karin silently gritted her teeth together.

"Karin." a male voice said.

Karin was pushed out of her thoughts as she looked to the left to see Naruto and Sakura staring at her.

"Is something wrong?" Naruto asked.

"No it's just that I couldn't get along with the Jonin and after that I've decided to work by myself sometimes on missions." Karin said.

"Oh. Who were the people who've worked with since you returned, dattebayo?" Naruto asked.

"Aunt Kushina and Sasuke." Karin said.

Sakura secretly became annoyed when Karin said Sasuke's name.

"How about you join Team 7?" Naruto said smiling.

 _"No, Shannaro!"_ Sakura thought.

"Thanks but no thanks." Karin said. "I'll stay where I am right now." Karin said.

Karin wanted to be on a team with her older brother ever since they've been assigned to teams but she couldn't deal with Sakura and her fan obsession about Sasuke.

"Okay but the offer is still on the table, dattebayo." Naruto said.

"Yeah." Karin said.

* * *

Tomorrow.

Day Time.

Uzumaki clan compound.

Karin's House.

Sasuke, in his Police Force outfit, and Karin were sitting on one of the couches together. They were looking over documents that Karin had. Sasuke was on the left side and Karin was on the right side.

Sasuke was holding a few papers in his right hand. "So when do you have to return these?" he asked.

"A week but I'm almost done with these, so I'll return them in tomorrow morning." Karin said, holding a few papers in both of her hands. "... And also yesterday, Oniisan wanted me to talk to you."

Sasuke looked at his girlfriend. "About what?" he questioned.

"We wanted me to convince you to rejoin Team 7." Karin said, still examining the papers.

"I'm not joining them anymore." Sasuke said.

"I know, that's what I told Oniisan and Sakura." Karin said.

"Huh?" Sasuke asked confused.

"Sasuke, teams disband as time passes on. I'm not on Team 9 anymore." Karin said, placing the papers on the table with both of her hands before she placed her hands on her lap. "And besides your the lieutenant of the Police Force, it's always been your dream to join them with your father."

Sasuke stayed silent.

Karin looked at Sasuke, smiling. "After all, you always used to tell me when we were kids." she said. "Remember."

Sasuke put the papers on the table with his right hand before he stared up into the sky. "I know." he said, starting to remember the past.

* * *

 _7 years ago._

 _Day Time._

 _Uchiha clan compound._

 _Pond._

 _Sasuke, 8 years old and in his old usual outfit, and Karin, 7 years old and in her old usual outfit, were sitting at the dock together. Sasuke was on the left side and Karin was on the right side._

 _"What do you want to be in the future?" Sasuke asked, looking at Karin._

 _Karin looked at Sasuke. "Huh?" she asked confused then looked down at the lake. "I want to help people... but I'm not sure if I'm strong enough..."_

 _"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be strong in the future." Sasuke said smiling._

 _Karin looked at Sasuke._

 _"You'll be great." Sasuke said._

 _Karin blushed furiously before she looked away to the right side. "W-w-well... u-um... Wh-what do you want to be when you grow up...?" she asked shyly._

 _"I want to join the Police Force." Sasuke said._

 _"What...?" Karin asked shyly._

 _"It's always been my dream to be apart of them. And I will be joining some day." Sasuke said._

 _Karin stared at Sasuke for a moment before she smiled at him softly. "Okay..." she said._

 _Flashback ends._

* * *

Sasuke stopped remembering before he looked at Karin. _"But I also have another dream.. and that's to kill Itachi."_ he thought. "You're right about that." he said then started to smirk. "And also."

Karin suddenly became confused as she turned to Sasuke.

Sasuke placed his right hand on Karin's right shoulder, pulling her closer to him. "I've had a dream of being with you that came true." he said.

Karin's eyes widened a little bit.

Sasuke slowly closer his eyes as he leaned in towards Karin before he kissed her on the lips. Karin placed her hands on Sasuke's face to push him away so they could get back to work but after a second, she decided to close her eyes as she gave into the kiss. Sasuke placed his left hand on the couch next to the left side of Karin, who was leaning down until her back on the couch. Sasuke let go of Karin's right shoulder with his right hand as broke away from the kiss and opened his eyes as he moved back to see that he was hovering over Karin, who released her hands from his face. Sasuke saw that Karin was looking up at him with her eyes half opened and her cheeks were slightly red.

Sasuke leaned in and kissed Karin again, who almost immediately wrapped her arms around his neck. Their eyes were closed again as they started to moan.

As a few minutes have past, Karin suddenly sensed 2 very familiar chakras coming towards her house and knew she had to stop.

Karin unwrapped her arms around Sasuke and put her arms on his chest and pushed him away as she opened her eyes again. Sasuke opened his eyes and looked down at Karin as he was hovering over her again. They started to pant.

"What's wrong, Karin?" Sasuke asked.

"I sensed my Aunt and Oniisan coming over here." Karin said, getting her top half off of the couch as Sasuke started to sit back on the couch.

Karin straightened herself up before she grabbed the papers from the table with both hands and started reading over them.

When Karin sensed Kushina and Naruto were at the main shoji doors, she and Sasuke heard a few knocks at it.

"It's open." Karin said.

One of the main shoji doors slid open to reveal Kushina, in her usual outfit, and Naruto, who were smiling at them.

"Hello Karin." Kushina said.

"Hi." Naruto said.

"Nice to see you 2." Karin said, looking at them.

Naruto stopped smiling when he saw that Sasuke was here. "What's he doing here, dattebayo?" he asked.

Karin stopped smiling as she looked down at the papers again. "I invited him so that he can help me look over these documents." she said. "Please, come on in."

Kushina slid one of the shoji doors closed with her right hand before she and Naruto started to take their sandals off.

Karin sighed. _"This is going to be a long day."_ she thought.

* * *

4 days later.

Day Time.

Forest.

Karin was training alone as she was learning one of the very powerful fūinjutsus in the Uzumaki clan, Adamantine Chains. She was standing near a tree that had a red and white target on it.

"Okay, if I just focus and think of someone trying to attack me, maybe they can activate." Karin said to herself.

Karin closed her eyes and started to think of someone. It took her a few seconds as she thought of Itachi. Karin opened her eyes as a bright yellow chain appeared out of her stomach and hit the target, causing half of the tree to collapse.

"I did it. I really did it!" Karin said smiling.

Karin's eyes were halfway open as she suddenly felt weak and backed away a little before she fell backwards, now sitting on the grass as her back was against a tree.

 _"Aunt Kushina said... that this chain can even bind a mass of chakra... But I had never used it before... she also said that it can nullify someone's chakra... I wonder how Mom, Aunt Kushina, Mito, and the other Uzumakis felt... " Karin_ thought then gasped exhaustedly. _"I better put this away before I become weaker."_ she slowly started pulling her chain back to her body.

When Karin was done, she closed her eyes as her hear rested on her left shoulder.

* * *

5 days later.

Day Time.

Uzumaki clan compound.

As Karin was walking towards her Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina's House, she stopped as she suddenly sensed 6 familiar chakras coming towards her. She turned to the left side to see Taiko, Haruto, Reo, Kaito, Riku, and Asahi, in their usual outfits, were running towards her.

 _"What do they want?"_ Karin thought annoyed. She suddenly sensed a very familiar chakra heading towards her.

When they made made it to her, they stopped in front of her.

"Move out of our way!" Taiko said serious, placing his right hand on his sword.

"Where exactly are you all going?" Karin asked serious.

"We're going to arrest her!" Kaito said.

Karin suddenly realized that they wanted to arrest Kushina. "Forget it! I'm not letting go guys arrest my Aunt Kushina!" she said.

"We said step out of the way!" Taiko yelled.

"What did she do anyway?!" Karin asked angrily.

"She messed with an investigation." Reo said.

"And did Sasuke tell you guys to do this?" Karin asked.

"He said that 'he entrusted us to handle things on our own'." Taiko said.

"I don't think he meant it like that." Karin said she folding her arms.

"Shut it!" Taiko said.

"And will Fugaku agree with what you guys are doing?" Karin asked.

"Of course." Asahi said.

"Really?" Karin questioned. "Because he's coming this way."

The 6 male Police Force became confused.

Karin pointed her head to her right before the 6 Police Force looked to see that Fugaku, now 47 years old and in his Police Force uniform, was walking towards them. The 6 of them became shocked.

"How about I tell him why all of you guys are here?" Karin asked.

The 6 of them looked at Karin.

"Maybe you guys can get arrested and be kicked off of the Police Force." Karin said.

"Please don't!" Taiko said.

"Maybe I will." Karin said.

When Fugaku made it he stopped on the right side of Karin.

"Hey." Fugaku said.

Karin looked at Fugaku as she unfolded her arms, smiling. "Hello, Fugaku." she said. "What are you doing here?"

"I came here to tell you something." Fugaku said then looked at the 6 male Police Force. "But what are they doing here?"

Karin looked at the 6 male Police Force. "Well, they're here because.." she said.

Taiko, Haruto, Reo, Kaito, Riku, and Asahi felt as if their hearts had stopped.

"To tell me something about the new Chunin Exams that's coming up soon." Karin said.

The 6 male Police Force silently sighed in relief.

"Huh, really?" Fugaku questioned, looking down at Karin.

Karin looked up at Fugaku. "Yeah, me, Sasuke, and Oniisan are the only genins and most of our friends are Chunins while Neji just became a Jonin. They wanted us to move up in the ranks." she said.

"Oh, I see." Fugaku said.

"They were just about to leave when you came." Karin said.

"Oh, hai!" Taiko said.

The 6 male Police Force started to walk away.

 _"I should really talk to Sasuke about them before Fugaku be forced to take him off as Lieutenant because of them..."_ Karin thought. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?" she asked.

"Right." Fugaku said.

* * *

6 days later.

Day Time.

Uchiha clan compound.

Fugaku and Mikoto's House.

Sasuke's Room.

Sasuke was sitting on a brown wooden chair as Karin was sitting at the end of Sasuke's bed on the left side. Karin came to visit Sasuke as he was about to go on patrol in less than an hour. A few days ago, Karin told Sasuke what his team tried to do he ordered them to never to something like that without his permission again or else they'll never be apart of the Police Force.

"We should consider doing that." Karin said.

"No." Sasuke said.

"But do you want to be a Genin for the rest of your life or do you want to be a Chunin?" Karin asked.

"At least, let's not team up with him." Sasuke said.

"Oniisan is only person available for us to form a team." Karin said.

"Then we'll probably wait and if we can't find another one then we'll add him." Sasuke said then closed his eyes.

"Okay." Karin said smiling a little bit, knowing there isn't going to be another one.

As Karin continued to stare at Sasuke, she noticed how handsome he was before she stood up and walked over to him.

"You know." Karin said smiling.

Sasuke opened his eyes to see Karin walking towards him. "What exactly?" he asked.

Karin stood in front of Sasuke and started to climb on to him until she placed her arms on his shoulders. "Even though you look good in this headband." she said, putting her right hand on the back of Sasuke's head. "I kinda miss your bangs covering your forehead."

Sasuke continued to look at Karin. "Is that so?" he asked.

"Hai." Karin said then placed her left hand on the back of Sasuke's head before she used both of her hands to untie his Forehead Protector then tossed it on the bed with her right hand and put both of her hands into his hair. "But for some reason you stopped doing that."

"I didn't want it to get in the way." Sasuke said, placing both of his hands on Karin's hips. "And besides you stopped wearing your headband."

"Because I don't want to wear it anymore and looked great without yours." Karin said then leaned in and kissed Sasuke's forehead.

Sasuke closed his eyes when Karin kissed his forehead, feeling her soft and warm lips on it.

Karin pulled away to see that Sasuke was opening his eyes. "It makes you look even more handsome." she said, closing her eyes as she leaned in.

Sasuke closed his eyes before he and Karin kissed each other. Karin suddenly sensed Mikoto coming but she thought that she was passing by until they heard a few knocks at the door.

Sasuke and Karin opened their eyes and stopped kissing each other as they pulled away, looking at the door.

"Sasuke, your father summoned you. He wants you to meet in his office at the Police Force building." Mikoto said.

Karin removed her hands from Sasuke's hair. "Well I better get going." she said, getting off of Sasuke before she stood on the floor then straightened herself up. "I'll see you later." walking away.

"Yeah." Sasuke said, looking at Karin.

When Karin was in front of the door, she twisted it open with her left hand and stepped out before she closed it. She saw Mikoto, now 42 years old and in her usual outfit, standing on the right side of her.

"Oh hello, Karin." Mikoto said smiling. "It's so nice to see you again.

"Hello to you too, Mikoto." Karin said smiling. "I'm just about to leave."

"Huh, already?" Mikoto said frowning.

"Hai, I have to go see Uncle Minato." Karin said.

"When will you return?" Mikoto asked.

Karin stared at Mikoto, seeing that she was sad.

Ever since her mother Uzume died, Karin has thought of her Aunt Kushina and Mikoto as mothers to her. And even before Uzume died, Kushina and Mikoto have always thought of Karin as the daughter they always wanted.

"Don't worry, I'll be back soon." Karin said. "I promise."

Mikoto smiled again, closing her eyes. "Hurry back, okay." she said.

"Okay." Karin said smiling.

* * *

5 days later.

Day Time.

Forest.

Karin was walking through the forest, looking for Sasuke as she sensed him. Ever since Karin had returned to the Hidden Leaf Village, she sensed that Sasuke's chakra has gotten thicker and stronger as time passes. She noticed that Sasuke comes here often.

As Karin continued to walk, she suddenly stopped a few feet away from a very large grey Boulder, sensing that Sasuke was inside.

Karin looked up. _"So.. this is where he goes.."_ she thought then started looking around. _"There has to be an entrance somewhere..."_

Karin looked up to the right side to see an entrance then she suddenly heard a loud this coming from the inside. _"He must be training."_ she thought, sensing that Sasuke's chakra has gotten stronger.

Karin started walking on rock and continued until she made it to the entrance, when she did she hid on the left side of it and slowly peeked inside to see that it was dark.

 _"What's he doing?"_ Karin thought, placing her right on the entrance.

Then suddenly a small rock broke away from it and landed inside.

 _"Oh no! Did he heard that?!"_ Karin thought.

Within half a second, Karin sensed that Sasuke was close to her and she felt something on her right hand before she was quickly pulled in. She started to struggle as she suddenly felt a hand on her waist.

"Let me go!" Karin yelled.

"Karin?" the male voice questioned.

A few seconds later, Karin was on the ground and she got out of his grip before she moved a few feet away from him.

With the help of the light from outside, Karin looked at the person before she gasped to see that it was Sasuke, who looked different as his hair was light blue and was at a hip length, his skin was grey, 2 fangs were poking out of his mouth, dark blue lips, his eyes were dark grey and had the Sharingan, webbed-claw-shaped wings from his back which he could use to fly and glide, a black star-shaped mark appeared across the bridge of his nose, and he was only wearing light grey pants, and black sandals.

"Sasuke?" Karin asked shocked.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

Karin made a serious face. "What happened to you?" she asked.

Sasuke's skin started to turn pale again, his hair turned back to black and to it's original length, the star on his nose started to disappear, his eyes went back to white and charcoal black, and the wings, fangs, claws, and blue lips disappeared.

Karin immediately noticed that when Sasuke was back to the way he looked she saw those black marks appeared again on the left side of his neck. _"Those marks...! They were on Sasuke ever since the Chunin Exams happened...!"_ she thought.

"Karin, I-" Sasuke said but was cut off.

"Explain to me right now why did you look like that?!" Karin asked serious. "And I want the truth."

Sasuke sighed, closing his eyes then he opened them again. "... It was the first day of the second part of the Chunin Exams.. when we were inside after we encountered another team but we defeated them, we made a password to tell us apart but quickly after that we were separated from each other for awhile until I met with Sakura but still haven't found Naruto.." he said.

Karin continued to listen.

"Sakura thought that was Naruto, I suspected something is wrong when "Naruto" repeats the password word for word. I explained that the real Naruto would not have recited such a difficult password, hence why I chose a lengthy one, and the impostor revealed to be the Kusagakure ninja. One of the strangest things he did was swallow his scroll then he paralyzied me and Sakura with visions of our own deaths. Sakura was out of it because she had it worse than I did. I barely succeeded in regaining my composure and stabbed my leg with a kunai before getting myself and Sakura away from him, who was going to kill us. We went into hiding but we were found out then Naruto showed up." Sasuke said. "But despite Naruto showing up, I've decided to relinquish our scroll to him to ensure our team's survival. However, Naruto stops meand punches me in the face. Refusing to accept my mindset, Naruto took the scroll from me. Naruto began fighting him and his snakes, although he was easily beaten and injured. As he is about to be devoured by the snake, Naruto suddenly activated a powerful chakra and hits the snake down with one punch. He manages to use the snake to toss Naruto into a tree, and then uses the snake to attack me, only for Naruto to rush in and save me, asking him if he was okay and calling mea baby, saying the the same words I've told him on one of our past missions."

 _"It has to be the Nine-Tails chakra.."_ Karin thought.

"He used a seal on Naruto's stomach, rendering him unconscious. He threw Naruto towards the ground but Sakura saved him by throwing a kunai at him. She then yells at me about how I shouldn't be a coward. Her words reminded me of what Itachi said to me that day and it rejuvenated me with determination as I prepared to battle him. Me and him engage in combat. It was long and difficult battle, but I seemingly ended the battle with my Dragon Fire Jutsu to incinerate him. However, that guy survived with his face partially melted off, revealing another face underneath. The man revealed himself to be Orochimaru."

Karin's eyes widened. "You and Oniisan really battled Orochimaru?!" she asked shocked.

"Yeah. He quickly extended his neck then bit my neck and leaves behind a cursed seal; wishing me luck in surviving, he left. I told Sakura to not tell Naruto but I think she already told him." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at the curse mark on Sasuke's neck and the black summoning tattoo on his left arm, concerned. "So, that's why you have that mark on your neck and arm." she said.

Sasuke nodded. "Before the preliminary matches of the exam, Sakura watched me as I suffered from the pain caused by the cursed mark. Sakura tried to confess the situation to the hosters of the exam in concern for me. I stopped her by grabbing her hand and scolded her. I began to protest against her while stating her concern. I continued by confirming to Sakura once again that I'm an _avenger_ , and not even she will be able to change that. I told her that I can't forgive even her if she tells anyone of the cursed seal. I knew that she was worried and sad but I didn't care." he said. "During the time that everything has happened since then I've decided to gain more power to kill Itachi for what he did to half of the Uchiha and Uzumaki clan. When I was done training with the Uchihas in the Feudal Lord's area for a year. I secretly went to Orochimaru for more power."

Karin stayed silent for a moment. One of the reasons she decided to train with Tsunade is to become stronger and defeat Itachi. "So do you know about what Kabuto do you to you...?" she asked.

"Kabuto's apart of Orochimaru's followers but what did he try to do to me?" Sasuke asked.

Karin looked down at the ground. "It was more than 3 years ago during the Preliminaries." she said.

* * *

 _Flashback._

 _3 years ago._

 _Day Time._

 _Karin, in her old usual outfit, continued to do the Mystical Palm Technique on Sasuke, who still was unconscious, and she sensed that he was gaining a little bit of chakra._

 _"At least his chakra is increasing..." Karin thought._

 _Karin suddenly sensed a familiar chakra coming to the room, she looked up and turned her head to the left a little to look at the door. "Could it be...?" she thought._

 _When the familiar chakra made it to the door, she heard 3 bodies drop a few seconds later but she still sensed their chakras._

 _Karin's eyes widened. "H-he knocked 3 of the Anbu out...!" she thought._

 _The door opened up to reveal Kabuto and 3 unconscious Anbu behind him. Karin stopped using her Mystical Palm Technique and she turned around to face Kabuto, putting her hands down._

 _"Oh, so you're here with him." Kabuto said smirking._

 _"K-kabuto.. why did you do that to all of the Anbu...?" Karin asked shocked and scared._

 _"Because they wouldn't let me pass so I can take Sasuke." Kabuto said then pulled a scale from his pouch with his right hand. "Now, are you going to step away or I have to kill?"_

 _Karin gasped in fright at what Kabuto just said, she stepped backwards until her back was against the left side of the bed. "P-please... p-please don't take Sasuke away..." she said tears forming in her eyes, then she sensed Kakashi coming back to the room._

 _"So I guess you do want to die." Kabuto said then ran over to Karin while raising the scalpel in his right hand._

 _Karin closed her eyes tightly as she waited for the attack but it never came. She slowly opened her eyes to see Kabuto standing a foot from her without his scalpel and Kakashi standing by the door with the scalpel in his right hand._

 _"Well, well Kakashi. Foiling my attack on her by striking from my blind spot, huh." Kabuto said smiling. "But now, are you ready to take me on? Next time you should station at least 10 guards and especially don't bring this red haired weakling."_

 _Karin looked down sadly._

 _Kakashi lowered the scalpel. "You, you're not an ordinary genin are you?" he questioned. "You caught a whiff of me and immediately readied your weapon and even tried to kill Karin." then stepped forward a little. "Quite impressive."_

 _"You over estimate me." Kabuto said._

 _Kakashi stopped walking. "So what do you want with Sasuke? Finding you like this I oughta hall you in for questioning." he asked._

 _"What just you?" Kabuto asked then turned around to face Kakashi then walked forward a little before he stopped. "I wonder if you could."_

 _"Are you looking to take me on?" Kakashi asked. "... I know who you are, you're the Konoha Medical Core Chief's son, your name what was it, 'Kabuto Yakushi'. What are you one of Orochimaru's puppets?"_

 _Karin opened her eyes as she looked up at Kabuto. "Orochimaru...?" she thought confused._

 _Kabuto smirked. "Even if you did take me into custody, you'd never be able to prove I had any connection to him." he said._

 _"Just answer my question." Kakashi said._

 _"And if I say 'no'?" Kabuto asked._

 _"I'm the one asking the questions. Now give me some answers?" Kakashi asked._

 _"Look you'll have your answers soon enough even if I'm not here." Kabuto said then raised his right hand. "So why don't we skip the middle man and let me go?"_

 _Kakashi put the scalpel in his pouch and pulled out a kunai with his right hand. "You smart alecky little brat. I'll teach you to mess around with grown ups." he said._

 _Kabuto reached into his pouch and pulled a curved kunai with his left hand. "Come on give me a break, don't be so arrogant. The cards are clearly in my favor here." he said then put the weird kunai in his right hand and pointed it near the left side of Karin's neck._

 _Karin started to shake in fear as tears were forming in her eyes._

 _Everyone stayed silent for a moment before Kabuto his kunai more towards Karin's neck, Kakashi quickly ran over to Kabuto, who moved to strike Karin but Kakashi knocked the curved kunai of Kabuto's right hand with his kunai in his right hand. Karin quickly ducked to the floor while Kakashi restrained Kabuto on the floor._

 _Kakashi and Kabuto saw the sandy brown haired anbu suddenly got up and ran to the door._

 _"So that was a clone...?!" Karin thought._

 _Karin sensed Kakashi's clone standing out in the hallway before she looked down at the light brown haired anbu._

 _"This one is the real Kabuto...?!" Karin thought._

 _Karin turned to Kakashi and before she could say anything to him the light brown haired anbu got up the upper half of himself and threw 4 kunais at one of the glass windows with his left hand before stood up and crashed through the window. Karin closed her eyes with both of her hands while Kakashi ran towards the broken window and watched as the fall, the light brown haired anbu put his left hand on his mask before he revealed himself to be Kabuto and disappeared into the trees below._

 _Karin slowly uncovered her eyes as the sandy brown haired anbu fell to the ground. She suddenly didn't sense any chakra in the fake Kabuto and the sandy brown haired anbu. Kakashi's clone disappeared._

 _"Th-those... th-those 2 were really... d-dead..." Karin thought sadly, tears forming in her eyes again._

 _Kakashi walked over to the fake Kabuto and crouched down beside it. "Impressive." he said checking the pulse from the fake Kabuto's neck with his left hand. "Just as I suspected the Dead Soul Jutsu: where a ninja temporarily animates and controls a dead body even transforming it's face. Kabuto even stopped his own heart and eliminated all traces of his scent in order to escape by impersonating a murdered Anbu Black Ops ninja, being raised as the adopted son of the chief medical core is a powerful asset of his. If it turns out that someone is good as him is working for Orochimaru I've got to work harder."_

 _Kakashi pulled out of his thoughts as he turned to Karin, who was silently crying on the floor and in shock at what happened. He stood up and walked over to where she was before he crouched down beside her._

 _"Karin." Kakashi said._

 _Karin slowly looked up at Kakashi._

 _"You don't have to cry anymore he's gone for now." Kakashi said, trying to comfort her._

 _"W-w-why... W-w-why did he wanted to take Sasuke...? A-and w-who's Orochimaru...?" Karin asked._

 _Kakashi went silent for a moment as he looked down at Karin's sad and scared face knowing that she heard and witness the scenes between him and Kabuto, he couldn't hide it from her because she can easily sense it._

 _Kakashi sighed. "Orochimaru is an S-rank criminal from Konoha who fled the village because of his experiments on people." he said._

 _Karin's eyes widened as she gasped in shock._

 _"And for Sasuke." Kakashi said then turned around to look at the still unconscious Sasuke before turned back to look at Karin again. "He gave him that mark while you all were in the Forest of Death."_

 _Karin looked down at the ground. "So... that's why.. he was really exhausted during his battle.. a-and markings almost spread all over his body... now he's unconscious because of it..." she thought sadly. "I can't believe Sasuke is suffering badly and is in much pain..."_

 _Karin suddenly felt a hand on her left shoulder, she looked up to see Kakashi looking down at her while his right hand was on her left shoulder._

 _"Don't worry, Sasuke is going to be alright, he just needs some rest, that's all." Kakashi said. "I promise I'll make sure that nothing happens to him while I train him."_

 _Karin continued to stare at Kakashi._

 _"Until then, don't say anything to anyone about this." Kakashi said._

 _"B-but Uncle Minato-" Karin said sadly but was cut off._

 _"He already knows about this, okay." Kakashi said._

 _Karin looked down sadly again. "H-hai..." she said._

 _Flashback Ends._

* * *

"I see so that's what happened when I was unconscious." Sasuke said.

"Hai." Karin said then looked up at Sasuke. "But why didn't you tell anything? You just hid it from me."

"I'm sorry but I wanted to protect you." Sasuke said.

Karin sighed before she walked over to Sasuke. "Sasuke, over the past 3 years, I've trained with Tsunade and started to gain more knowledge along the way." she said then stopped in front of him before she placed her left hand on the right side of Sasuke's face. "I can protect myself, okay."

Sasuke didn't say anything as he closed his eyes.

* * *

5 days later.

Night Time.

Uzumaki clan compound.

Karin's House.

Karin, in her night clothes, was laying down on her back in her bed, looking up at the cieling as she was thinking about Sasuke. After she found out, Karin told Sasuke that she wouldn't tell anybody about what he told her.

 _"Does Sasuke even believes that I'm strong? Have I changed even a little over the years?"_ Karin thought, closing her eyes.

Karin quickly opened her eyes and rose the top half of her from her bed as she started to sense a very familiar chakra heading rapidly to her house.

 _"Huh?! Why is he coming over here?!"_ Karin thought, reaching for her glasses on her nightstand with her right hand before she put them on and stood up on the floor.

Karin started to walk over to her window and opened it up with both of her hands and looked out to see Sasuke, in his Curse Mark second stage form, and wearing black pants, was flying over here.

"Why is he coming here?" Karin asked herself.

When Sasuke now stood on the window, Karin stepped backwards to let him in, who carefully entered in.

"Are you crazy?! What are you doing here?!" Karin asked, looking up at Sasuke.

"I need to stay here for the night." Sasuke said, looking down at Karin.

"What?! Why?!" Karin asked, moving passed Sasuke, who moved out of her way, and looked out of the window to see that no one was outside.

"I can't go home without someone seeing me like this." Sasuke said, looking at Karin.

Karin turned to Sasuke again. "Then why couldn't you transfer back and sneek into your room?" she questioned.

"Because I was training and someone almost spotted." Sasuke said.

Karin sighed then looked at Sasuke for a while as the moonlight shined on him. She stared at his stomach, seeing that he had well developed abs. _"Even though Sasuke's in this form.. he looks really hot..."_ she thought, blushing a little.

"Karin." Sasuke said.

Karin was pushed out of thoughts as she looked up at Sasuke's face.

"Is everything alright?" Sasuke asked.

"Hai and you know what?" Karin questioned, placing both of her hands on the window doors. "You can stay after all..." closing the window and walked over to Sasuke then placed both of her hands on his chest, looking up at him. "You don't want anyone to find you."

"Karin." Sasuke said.

"Maybe we can have some alone time." Karin said then closed her eyes as she kissed Sasuke on the lips.

Sasuke's eyes widened before he slowly closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around Karin's waist as he gave into the kiss. Karin wrapped her arms around Sasuke's neck.

They kissed for a minute before they pulled pulled away panting, looking at each other in the eyes. After awhile, they kissed again after they closed their eyes, Sasuke moved his hands from Karin's waist to her behind, gripping both cheeks as it made Karin gasped a little bit in the kiss. Sasuke picked Karin and pulled her body flush against his, who wrapped her legs around his waist, and carried her off to Karin's bed where he laid her down. Karin used unwrapped her arms from around Sasuke's neck before she used her right hand to carefully turn on the purple lamp, which she bought a few weeks ago, so they could see each other before she laid her hands on her bed.

Sasuke and Karin opened their eyes as they broke away from their kiss. Karin removed her glasses with her right hand and placed it on her nightstand. She circled her left hand around his neck and caressed his chin with right hand. Karin pulled Sasuke's face towards hers for another one another and kissed again. His tongue licked her lips asking for entrance which she immediately gave him. Their tongues were battling for dominance, they started moaning into our make out session. Sasuke broke the kiss and they opened their eyes, staring at each other. Karin removed her hands from Sasuke. Sasuke sat up as he was on top of Karin, he removed his hands from Karin as he started to unbutton her shirt with both hands before he tossed it aside on the left side of the floor, he then began removing her pants and underwear.

Sasuke looked down at, Karin, admiring her naked body, seeing that she was beautiful.

Karin blushed furiously as she turned her head to the right side to avoid eye contact with Sasuke, being a little embarrassed that her boyfriend was seeing her naked for the first time. She suddenly felt a hand on the right side of her face before it her head forward, seeing the Sasuke was looking down at her with his left hand on her face.

"Don't be shy, your body is perfect." Sasuke said softly.

Karin stared at Sasuke.

"I'll be gentle." Sasuke said, pulling his left hand away her.

Karin nodded to her boyfriend before she closed her eyes.

Sasuke leaned in and started nipping at Karin's neck, causing her to gasp softly, before he started moving down, leaving a trail of kisses down her neck, Karin tossed her head moaning. When Sasuke made it to Karin's chest, he started suckling on her left breast while he was fondling the right one with his left hand, she moaned loudly, starting to grab his shoulders with both hands, then he switched to the right breast and began fondling the left one with his right hand.

Sasuke moved down and opened up Karin's legs with both of his hands, admiring her womanhood before leaning in and started devouring it, Karin covered her mouth with both of her hands. Karin opened her eyes, her crimson eyes gazed at his devilishly handsome face before she nibbled her lower lip, suppressing her sensual groan.

"Oh, S-sasuke..." Karin said moaning, removing her hands from her mouth.

Sasuke started licking faster and faster, making her juices seep out a little, making her feel hot.

"Ahh, Sasuke! Ahh!" Karin moaned, gripping the sheets.

Karin exploded.

"Sasuke!" Karin yelled, as she cummed and it spilled on Sasuke's face, who now licking it up.

Karin panted softly, her face now red. As she was still recovering, Karin suddenly heard a noise she slowly opened her eyes to see Sasuke was taking off his pants and boxers then he tossed them behind him with his left arm. She looked down at Sasuke's cock to see that it was big and long.

 _"N-no way! He's like 12 inches long...!"_ Karin thought astonished.

Sasuke crawled back on top of Karin. "Are you sure you want to do this?" he asked concerned.

"H-hai." Karin said, nodding.

Sasuke positioned his cock at Karin's womanhood with left hand before he slid his cock deep inside her.

Karin's eyes widened and she gasped as she felt the pain of Sasuke taking her virginity. She quickly closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. _"I had no idea it was going to hurt so much."_ she thought, tears running from her eyes.

Sasuke placed his right hand on the left side of Karin's face before he leaned in and he gently kissed both sides of her face to calm her down. Even though, Sasuke was calming Karin down, he loved the way her warm, wet inner muscles saturated and pulled his length.

When the pain went away, Karin stopped crying as she opened her eyes and her hands slid up his upper half feeling his toned abs.

Sasuke stopped kissing Karin's face and looked at her to see that she nodded as it was her way of telling him that she's ready. He removed his right hand from the left side of Karin's face before he pulled out and thrusted back inside of her. Karin wrapped her arms around Sasuke's neck and her legs around his waist. Sasuke placed his hands on the bed on both sides of Karin and leaned down to kiss her as he now thrusted roughly into her tight, wet heat. Karin closed her eyes tightly as she moaned into the kiss and wrapped her legs tightly around Sasuke's waist to push him deeper into her as Sasuke thrust his tongue inside her mouth mimicking the roughness of his hips.

 _"Oh yeah! This feels so good!"_ Karin thought.

Sasuke moaned into the kiss, relishing just how tight Karin he was inside of her, it felt amazing. Ever since he found out about sex, he's been imagining doing it with her.

 _"Uh, she's amazing! I've never imagined our first time would be this great! We should do this more often!"_ Sasuke thought.

Sasuke stopped kissing Karin, who immediately started moaning loudly, and bit Karin's neck. Karin felt Sasuke's teeth especially his fangs biting her neck, which only made her moan louder.

"Ahh, Sasuke! Ahh!" Karin moaned, gripping Sasuke even more.

"Hmmm?" Sasuke asked, opening his eyes and looked down at Karin as he continued thrusting deeply into her.

"Uh, Sasuke! Harder! Faster!" Karin said, moaning out loud.

Sasuke thrusted deeper into Karin, loving the way her warm, wet inner muscles saturated and pulled his length. Sasuke stopped biting Karin as he moved his lips to her chest, dragging his tongue along her skin. Sasuke and Karin knew they were close.

"Sasuke, I'm about to cum!" Karin yelled.

"Uh, me too!" Sasuke said, removing his lips from Karin's chest.

"Sasuke!" Karin yelled.

"Karin!" Sasuke yelled.

Sasuke released his stream of seeds into her and Karin's juices came out again. Karin's body shook with the force of her orgasm as Sasuke felt Karin's insides clenched down on his cock. Sasuke collapsed on top of Karin. They were covered in sweat and panting heavily from their love making. Sasuke lifted himself up a little bit and slowly pulled out of Karin as he still had some energy left. Sasuke grabbed Karin with his left hand before he pulled the sheets over them and wrapped his arms around her.

When they were breathing normal again, Karin slowly looked up at Sasuke.

"Um, Sasuke." Karin said.

Sasuke looked down at Karin. "What is it?" he asked.

"I love you." Karin said, wrapping her arms around Sasuke's neck.

"I love you too, Karin." Sasuke said then he leaned in and kissed Karin on the forehead.

As Sasuke and Karin cuddled lovingly into one another, Sasuke wrapped his wings around them before they slowly fell asleep.

* * *

A few hours later.

Morning.

Karin suddenly started wake up to the sound of birds chirping outside. She slowly opened her eyes to see that Sasuke was back to normal and they had their arms wrapped around each other. Karin's eyes widened before she slowly got out of Sasuke's arms and picked up some of the sheets with both hands to cover herself up as she rose her top half up.

Karin started to remember what happened last night. _"I guess it wasn't a dream... me and Sasuke really did it...!"_ she thought.

Karin heard Sasuke groan, knowing he was about to wake up. She reached for her glasses with her right hand and placed them on her head.

Sasuke opened his eyes to see that Karin was awake as her top half was up. "Good morning." he said, rising his top half up.

"Oh, good morning to you too." Karin said.

Sasuke looked at Karin's arms to see that she had a few bites marks on them. "Where they did you get those markings?" he asked.

Karin looked down. "A few months after I left, I found out that I inherited the ability my mother once."

"What ability would that be?" Sasuke asked.

"Heal Bite." Karin said.

"What can it do?" Sasuke asked.

"When a person bites me, I can restore theirs or my own chakra back to full. But it depletes my own chakra when I use it on others and I'm left with these marks." Karin said.

"Oh." Sasuke said.

Karin started to think about something.

Sasuke looked at Karin, concerned. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"Nothing's wrong. It's just that I was wondering." Karin said, looked at Sasuke. "Your parents must be looking for you and you have to go on patrols today. So how are you going to get back home?"

Sasuke leaned towards Karin. "Don't worry." he said, closing his eyes as he kissed Karin on the left side of her cheek. "I know how to get back without anyone seeing me." then started kissing down to her neck.

Karin slowly closed her eyes as she started to moan a little. She was going to allow Sasuke to continue until she remembered that she had to tell him something.

"Uh, S-sasuke.. wait stop...!" Karin said, slowly pushing Sasuke with her right hand.

Sasuke leaned back. "What is it, Karin?" he asked.

Karin looked at Sasuke. "I can't join the Chunin Exams right now." she said.

"Why not?" Sasuke asked.

"Because I have to travel somewhere for awhile." Karin said.

"Travel?" Sasuke questioned.

"Hai, I want to travel to learn more of that knowledge." Karin said.

"So.. you're going to leave me here? What am I going to do without you?" Sasuke asked, placing his right hand on Karin's right shoulder, pulling her closer.

"It's only temporary and I'll be back as soon as can." Karin said.

"You promise?" Sasuke questioned.

Karin placed her right hand on the right side of Sasuke's face. "I promise." she said then pulled him towards her as she kissed him.

Sasuke and Karin closed their eyes as they started making out again.

Sasuke stopped kissing Karin as he pulled away to look at her. "When do you leave?" he asked.

"In 2 days." Karin said.

* * *

2 days later.

Day Time.

Konohagakure Gate.

Karin, in her usual outfit and her grey pouch wrapped around her waist, was facing Sasuke, in his Police Force outfit, as they saying goodbye to each other. From right to left: Minato, in his usual outfit, Kushina, and Naruto were standing a meters from them as they were seeing Karin off.

"Do you really have to go?" Sasuke asked.

"Hai and I'll be back before you know it." Karin said then looked at Kushina, Minato, and Naruto. "I'll be back soon and I'm sorry Oniisan."

"It's alright." Minato said smiling.

"Learn lots of information, dattebane." Kushina said.

"We'll enter it when you get back, dattebayo." Naruto said, smiling.

Karin turned back to Sasuke then leaned in and kissed him on the left side of his cheek before she pulled away. "I'm off." she said, walking away.

Minato, Kushina, Sasuke, and Naruto watched as Karin was leaving the Village again.

* * *

1 week later.

Day Time.

An Unknown Village.

Orange Building.

Karin was putting her belongings in a room and unpacking on her bed as she was staying for awhile to learn more knowledge here.

 _"I wonder how all of them are doing right now?"_ Karin thought.

Karin suddenly sensed a chakra coming to her room. When she turned to the door, it opened up to reveal woman, who looked to be 17, had fair skin, long brown hair that was tied up in a ponytail, green eyes, wearing her usual outfit, a short sleeved beige shirt, blue dress, and red sandals.

"Hello." the girl said smiling, entering before closing the door with her right hand. "My name is Rima."

"Nice to meet you. My name is Karin Uzumaki." Karin said smiling.

"Woah, you're really from the Uzumaki clan." Rima said.

"Hai." Karin said, placing her right hand on her right shoulder.

"We're going to be room mates for awhile." Rima said.

"That's great!" Karin said. _"It's the first day and I'm already making friends. I think I'm gonna like it here."_ she thought.

* * *

6 months later.

Day Time.

Library.

Karin was sitting in a chair and reading brown book with both of her hands. She read about extinct clans like the Kaguya Clan and other stuff as well. She was almost done with finding all of the knowledge here in the Library.

Over the past months, Karin heard that a group called 'Akatsuki' were collecting The Tailed Beasts as they now have the 1 Tail, 2 Tails, and 3 Tails. She also heard from Naruto through a messenger bird that Gaara's died and was brought back to life by an old woman named Chiyo in exchange for her own life, him learning new Jutsus, Team 7 has a new team member a boy named Sai and temporary Jonin named Yamato, Asuma, Team 10's Jonin died, Kurenai's pregnant with Asuma, and a few Akatsuki's have died. But what made her hurt and sad is that Sasuke abandoned the Village 5 months ago without telling anyone. She tried contacting him by bird but he wouldn't respond. And also this rumor that Sasuke killed Orochimaru.

 _"I can't believe Sasuke would do that to the Hidden Leaf Village. I wonder how Fugaku and Mikoto are holding up."_ Karin thought. _"First Itachi and now Sasuke."_

As Karin continued to read from her book, she suddenly sensed familiar chakras heading towards her. She looked up at the cieling. _"What are they coming here?! Why now?"_ she thought then she looked forward before she closed her book with both of her hands and stood up from the chair and started walking towards one of the exits. _"His chakra is nice and powerful but also the other one is weak and bad."_

Karin was walking through one of the empty paths to get back to the dorm as the book was in her left hand. She suddenly stopped near trees that was shading her and turned around. "Alright, come on out! I know you 2 are here." she said.

A few seconds later, Sasuke, in his new usual outfit, a long sleeved white shirt that was open at the torso, long dark blue pants, blue cloth that covers from his stomach to his knees, a purple rope belt securing the cloth, long black arm guards that reached his forearms, a small beige pouch behind him on his cloth, black sword behind him on the rope belt, and long grey sandals that reached his lower legs, and Suigetsu Hiroki, a lean-built boy that was 16 years old and a few months older than Sasuke and Karin, had fair skin, straight white hair with a light blue tint that reached his neck, almond shaped eyes, purple eye color, spiky teeth with one of the left side sticking out, wearing his usual outfit, a sleeveless purple shirt, long light grey pants, long brown sandals that reached his lower legs, brown belt wrapped around his waist that carried 2 blue and black water bottles, and a brown belt wrapped around his chest that carried a large grey sword that had 2 cut outs, a circle close to the top and a semi-circular one nearer to the handle, and detached handle, were standing a few feet away from her. Sasuke was on her left side and Suigetsu was on her right side.

They stood there in silence for awhile as Karin made a serious look at Sasuke, who made no expression on his face, while ignoring Suigetsu.

Karin placed her right hand on her right hip. "I knew it was you, Sasuke." she said.

Sasuke and Suigetsu continued to stare at Karin.

"Sasuke, you're here by yourself and you betrayed our Village." Karin said. "And I've been hearing rumors about Orochimaru's death and that you have something to do with it."

Suigetsu placed his right hand on his right hip. "Uh hello. I'm standing right next to him y'know." he said.

"So, what do you want, Sasuke?" Karin asked, ignoring Suigetsu.

Suigetsu looked at Sasuke before he closed his eyes and pointed his head to the ground. "Sasuke came here because he wants to talk to you." he said, opening his eyes and looked at Karin, taking his hand off of his hip before he walked over to Sasuke. "But we don't want to stand and talk so take us to your room where we can sit, okay." standing in front of Sasuke then raised his right hand as he closed his eyes. "I'm tired, I haven't walked this far in a long time."

Karin leaned to the right side a little bit to see Sasuke. "And what makes you think I wanna talk to you after what you did, Sasuke?" she questioned.

Karin stopped leaning as she looked up at Suigetsu.

Suigetsu opened his eyes and lowered his right hand, angry and annoyed before he walked over to Karin, raising his left hand. "I said we don't want to do this outside so just take us to your room to your room right now. Don't think I don't know that you're just trying to ignore me here, Karin." then put his left hand down.

"Hm." Karin said closing her eyes as she turned her head to the right side.

Sasuke started to walk over to Suigetsu and Karin.

Karin opened her eyes as she turned her head forward and sniffed Suigetsu, who was a little nervous, before she leaned back. "You're unpleasant." she said.

Suigetsu became angry and leaned forward a little. "You're not so pleasant yourself." he said.

Sasuke stopped on the left side of Suigetsu and Karin. "Listen just knock it off, Karin. Take us to a room now." he said.

Karin turned her head to the left side and stared at Sasuke for a moment before she closed her eyes. "Alright come on, but stay out of sight. I don't want anyone to know that you 2 are here." she said then turned around and walked away.

Sasuke and Suigetsu stood there for a moment before they disappeared.

 _"Why does he need to talk to me? He abandoned the Village months ago."_ Karin thought then opened her eyes. _"As soon as Sasuke's done talking, I'll tell him to leave."_

...

6 minutes later.

Karin was closing her door with her right hand and walked towards desk and placed her book on it with her left hand. "Now what do you want?" she asked, turning to the left side to see Sasuke sitting on the beginning of the left side of her bed with his sword was sitting beside him on his left side and Suigetsu was sitting in a chair beside her bed on the right side of Sasuke and his sword was laying against the wall beside him on the right side.

"First how do you 2 know each other?" Sasuke asked.

Karin stepped forward a little bit as she stood a few feet away from Sasuke and Suigetsu. "2 months after I finished training with Tsunade. I was walking on a path when this idiot came out of nowhere and started picking fights with the other idiots." she said.

"Why you-" Suigetsu said but was cut off.

"That's enough, Suigetsu." Sasuke said then turned to Karin. "Karin, come with me. I need you on my team. I need you on my team." he said.

"You have to be kidding me. You went rogue from Konoha and now you want me to join a team you're creating with this idiot." Karin said.

"Hey!" Suigetsu said annoyed.

Karin turned to Suigetsu. "Shut up!" she said. "And did Sasuke really killed Orochimaru?"

"Ask him yourself." Suigetsu said.

"Well." Karin said, turning back to Sasuke again.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "I killed him." he said.

Karin stared at Sasuke. _"And he said it so casually. That's so like Sasuke to do that."_ she thought then she suddenly sensed Rima coming back, quickly turning around to face the door. _"Oh no! I can't let Rima see them."_

Sasuke opened his eyes as he and Suigetsu stared at Karin.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.

Karin turned around again before she walked towards Suigetsu. "My room mate's coming." she said then grabbed Suigetsu's left arm with her left arm and started to drag him out of the chair. "So you need to go outside."

"Hold on!" Suigetsu said.

When Karin reached the window, she opened it up with her right hand. "You need to go outside now." she said then tossed Suigetsu out of the window.

Suigetsu yelled a little bit as he crashed to the ground with a thud.

Karin looked out the window. "Make sure no one's sees you." she said then closed her window with both of her hands before she turned to the right side to see Sasuke was staring at her. "You need to hide or turn into something quickly or you'll have to go outside as well."

As Rima made it to the door, she opened it up with her left hand and stepped inside to see Karin sitting in a chair and reading a book with her right hand.

"Oh hi, Karin." Rima said smiling, closing the door with her left hand.

Karin looked up at Rima, smiling. "Hello to you too, Rima." she said then closed her book before she placed it on the desk beside her. "What are you doing back so early?"

"I came to get a few supplies." Rima said, walking over to her back. "What are you doing today?"

"Oh I'm going to leave for the Library in a little while." Karin said, standing up from the chair.

Rima crouched down on the left side of her bed and put her hands under it. "By the way, why is there a sword and a wooden doll on your bed?" she asked.

Karin looked down at her bed to see Sasuke had transformed into a brown wooden statue of a hawk and his sword was still on the bed. "Oh I just bought it today." she said.

Rima pulled out a 3 beige books, a green scroll, and a black binder with both hands before she carried them in her arms and stood up from the floor. "So, you decided to learn Kenjutsu?" she asked then looked at Karin.

"Yeah, I've been studying it for awhile so I thought I should practice." Karin said.

"Okay, well I better get going." Rima said, walking over to the door and stopped in front of it, thinking of how to open it up.

Karin walked over to the door and opened the door with her right hand. "I'll get that for you." she said.

"Thanks, Karin. I'll see you later." Rima said then walked out.

Karin closed the door before she turned around and walked over to her bed and sat down at the end. She waited until she sensed Rima was meters away from her. "Okay, you can stop transforming now." she said.

Sasuke turned from the wooden doll back to his original form.

"Listen Sasuke, I know you're forming a team to go after Itachi." Karin said, looking down at the floor.

Sasuke looked to the right at Karin.

"Look, what's wrong with the team being just you and me, Sasuke? I mean don't really need that Suigetsu, right?" Karin questioned. "He has nothing to do with us."

 _"I see, Karin's more cunning and cautious, one of the things I love about her."_ Sasuke thought. "He's necessary for our team." he said.

Karin looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke, Itachi killed half of the Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan and even tried to kill me. He didn't kill any members of the Hozuki clan." she said, placing both of her hands on her lap. "If we work together, I'm sure we can defeat Itachi."

Sasuke placed his right hand on Karin's left hand. "Trust me on this Karin." he said. "And I'll ask once more with me, join me, Karin."

Karin stared at Sasuke for a moment. "Fine. But I hope you're right about this. Alright, if you need me and if you want me to then I'll go ahead and follow you." she said. "However." then suddenly grabbed Sasuke's face with both hands. "Even after what you did I still miss you."

Sasuke and Karin stared at each other before they closed their eyes and leaned forward. As they were about to kiss one another, the windows suddenly opened up to reveal Suigetsu.

"Hey!" Suigetsu said.

Sasuke and Karin opened their eyes as Karin quickly released Sasuke and turned away.

Suigetsu smirked. "Come on, Sasuke let's go. I assume Karin turned you down." he said.

"Not quite. It seem she's coming with us after all." Sasuke said.

Karin started fixing her glasses with her right hand. "But doesn't mean that I'm joining doesn't mean I'll respect and think of you as a team mate." she said.

"Fine by me." Suigetsu said.

Karin stood up from her bed. "But before I leave, I need to get some things." she said, walking over to her desk.

...

45 minutes later.

Forest.

From left to right, Karin, who now had her grey pouch wrapped around her waist, Sasuke, and Suigetsu, were walking through the forest. When they made it to the end, they saw the Ocean and stopped and looked at it.

Karin looked at Sasuke, smiling to herself. _"The one I love, Sasuke Uchiha. His handsome and cool face is great too, but... He maybe not be near Uncle Minato's chakra levels yet but he's strong none the less.."_ she thought then stopped smiling as she looked at Suigetsu, who had his hands behind his head. _"And then there's his weak chakra."_

Suigetsu looked at Karin. "Huh? What's up?" he questioned.

"I hate your chakra. It's just gross." Karin said, placing her hands on her hips.

"What?!" Suigetsu asked annoyed, leaning towards Karin and taking his hands off of his head.

Karin closed her eyes and turned her head to the left side, taking her hands off of her hips.

Suigetsu stopped leaning and closed his eyes, putting his hands on the back of his head again. "Well the same goes for you." he said.

Sasuke continued looking at the Ocean as a seagull flew past him on the left side.

...

5 minutes later.

"Who's this next member you're looking for?" Karin asked, putting her left hand on her left hip.

"Jugo and he's at Orochimaru's Northern Hide Out." Sasuke said.

"So, let's go to this Northern Hide Out." Karin said.

"Aw more walking I'm at the end of my rope here." Suigetsu said, crouching down on the ground.

"If you walked all the way over here then I'm sure you can walk over there." Karin said.

"Well the Northern Hide Out is no ordinary hideout." Suigetsu said.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Suigetsu.

"Not at all. It's for human experimentation and it houses all the uncontrollable monsters the experiments produce." Suigetsu said.

...

75 minutes later.

Somewhere in Otogakure.

Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin were now walking through a Rocky Place where the Northern Hideout was. As they continued walking, Suigetsu suddenly stopped walking and sat down on a large brown rock nearby. Sasuke and Karin stopped walking as they looked at Suigetsu.

Suigetsu took out one of his water bottles with his right hand and closed his eyes as he started drinking from it and stopped, sighing. "Say, aren't you guys tired?" he asked. "How about a little break."

Karin placed her left hand on her left hip. "What? But you already took a break." she questioned, facing Suigetsu. "Damn it, you're so lazy Suigetsu. Come on. We still have a long way to go."

"You don't even know where it is. So you have to follow me." Suigetsu said, opening his eyes.

"For your information, I'm following Sasuke who also knows the way there, not you and you're not even leading!" Karin said annoyed.

Suigetsu closed his eyes. "Tch." he said.

...

23 minutes later.

Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin were taking another break from walking because of Suigetsu. From left to right, Sasuke and Suigetsu were sitting on a medium sized flat Rock as Suigetsu had one of his water bottles in his right hand and his Executioner's Blade was leaning beside him on the right side. Karin was standing a few feet away from Suigetsu with her hands crossed.

Karin looked down at Suigetsu, serious. "Suigetsu, why the hell are you following Sasuke around?" she asked.

Suigetsu looked up at Karin, smiling. "Sasuke's not the only one with a goal. I have reasons to believe he can help me reach mine." he said. "But really, maybe you're following him because you 2 are a couple?"

"I may not know much about Orochimaru like you 2 but if you knew what I heard what Jugo's really like you wouldn't want to recruit him." Karin said.

"Well actually I know him a little, I was forced to fight him once." Suigetsu said.

Sasuke looked at Suigetsu.

"He used some interesting powers and was pretty strong." Suigetsu said.

Sasuke moved a little bit.

"I couldn't figure out what was going on in his head. I could never come around to liking him. I heard he actually asked Orochimaru to lock him up in that place. Tells you how crazy he really is." Suigetsu said.

Sasuke became interested in what Suigetsu just said.

"And so how do you know him?" Suigetsu asked.

"I've researched his clan and he's the last one before they're extinct. His clan possess the ability to absorb nature energy from their surroundings dued to then being unique. However, the effects of the energy results in them suddenly and uncontrollable surges of madness, making them go berserk." Karin said. "Their attitudes changes along with their looks."

"In other words, their angry people who loves to kill other people. Does that some it up pretty well?" Suigetsu questioned.

"Even so, I think to Orochimaru, Jugo's power was something very fascinating. I've been studying this and I know Orochimaru developed an enzyme from Jugo's bodily fluids, which allowed other shinobi to achieve the same state." Karin said. "You guys know what I mean don't you."

Suigetsu stopped smiling as Sasuke looked at the left side at his curse mark.

"I'm talking about the curse mark, it originated with Jugo." Karin said.

...

20 minutes later.

Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin were walking again. Sasuke was leading as Karin was behind him while Suigetsu was walking behind them, exhausted.

Karin started sensing lots of chakras in the area. _"So, this is Orochimaru's Northern Hideout."_ she thought.

Suigetsu stopped walking. "Hey." he said then sat down on the ground. "Can we rest a second?"

Sasuke and Karin stopped walking.

Karin turned around, moving her fists around. "Suigetsu! You keep taking breaks like every 2 minutes! We're almost at the hideout now come on!" she yelled.

Sasuke looked up at one of the Hideout's posts to see that no one's there.

Karin placed her left hand on her left hip and pointed her right index at Suigetsu. "I bet it's that sword. It's too heavy for you isn't it?" she questioned. "Just leave it behind! Damn it!" then placed her right hand on her right hip.

Sasuke continued to look up at the Post.

Karin turned her head to the right side to look at Sasuke. "Talk some sense into him, Sasuke!" she said then noticed something wrong with Sasuke. "Huh?" turning around and walked over to him until she was on his left side. "What's wrong?" looking at him.

"There's was supposed to be a guard here on watch." Sasuke said.

"What? A guard?" Karin questioned then looked up at the Post Sasuke was staring at to see that no one was there. "No one's there. That is strange."

"Guys." Suigetsu said, standing up.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Suigetsu.

Suddenly a man who looked to be 19 years old, had short black hair, black hair, wearing his usual outfit, a shirt very similar to Karin, long black pants, and long black sandals, was injured and slowly walking towards them.

Sasuke and Karin turned around to see the man was walking towards them before he collapsed on his stomach.

Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin walked over to him and Sasuke crouched down on his right side, Karin crouched down on his left side, and Suigetsu stood above him as he placed his left hand on his left hip.

Karin grabbed the guy, who had his eyes closed, with both hands before she turned him over on his stomach. Her right hand was on the back of his head while she placed her left hand on his neck, looking for a pulse. "He's from the Northern Hideout." said then took her left hand off of his neck. "He's still alive."

Sasuke looked down at man. "What happened there?" he asked.

The man slowly opened his eyes, looking up at Sasuke. "Uh, you.. you must be him.. Sasuke Uchiha, right?" he asked. "Please, you must help us."

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"What's going on?" Suigetsu asked.

"The rumors.. It started with the rumors of Orochimaru, that he had been killed.. The prisoners all went wild and rioted and the way it's going." the man said then suddenly closed his eyes and grunted in pain before he stopped and died.

Suigetsu leaned down a little. "Look at that. He just died." he said.

Karin looked to the left side as she sensed someone coming to their location.

A person came and landed on the ground, causing a small crater around him, the 3 of them looked to see that the man looked to be 25 years old, had long shaggy orange hair that reached his waist, dark brown skin as he was in the curse mark second state, fangs, yellow eyes with dark grey on the outside, wing-like protrusions on his forearms, 2 horns sprouting from each side of his forehead, and 2 more horns coming from each side of his cheeks, his broad flat tail, and wearing his usual outfit, a white short sleeved T-shirt and white shorts, and had his hands and arms on the ground.

Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin looked at the man. Sasuke and Suigetsu stood up as Suigetsu stepped forward and stood in front of Karin, who released her right hand from the now deceased man and placed it on the ground beside her.

The man looked at Sasuke. "I know you. I'm sure I do." he said.

Sasuke didn't say anything as he continued to stare at the man.

Suigetsu took his left hand off of his left hip. "What the hell is that?" he asked.

"That's curse mark second state. He has already transformed." Karin said.

Sasuke stood there for a moment before he quickly ran towards the man and took out his sword with his right hand struck the man on his stomach, making the man fall forward as he untransformed out of his second state.

Sasuke placed his sword back in it's holster with his right. "The Northern Hideout is just up ahead. Let's go get Jugo." he said then started walking forward.

Karin stood up from the ground. "Hey. Hey! Wait up. Sasuke!" she said, running after him.

Suigetsu walked over to the man and looked down at him as he immediately recognized him. "Huh? Guren." he asked.

...

5 minutes later.

From left to right, Suigetsu, Sasuke, and Karin standing were standing a few meters away from the large grey hideout as the prisoners, who were in the curse mark second state, were looking at them as they stood a few feet away from them.

"All of the wardens have been killed. And all of the inmates have broken out." Karin said.

"At this rate, we can't tell which one is Jugo, right?" Suigetsu questioned then looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke?"

"None of these are him." Sasuke said.

"Are you sure?" Suigetsu asked, taking his Executioner's Blade off of his back with his left hand.

"Jugo is locked up in a cell by himself." Sasuke said.

"Then we don't have to worry which one of them we take down." Suigetsu said, reaching into his right pocket with his right hand and pulled out a handle.

"Just don't kill any of them." Sasuke said, putting his right hand on his sword.

"Alright." Karin said.

Suigetsu placed the handle on the sword, looking at Sasuke. "Boy you 2 are from the Hidden Leaf Village. You 2 shouldn't hold back and you should've killed that last guy too." he said then held his sword up with both hands. "You're so soft."

"Karin, can you look for some keys inside?" he asked.

"Fine." Karin said.

"Let's go." Sasuke said, pulling out his sword with his right hand.

...

10 minutes later.

Sasuke and Suigetsu were hitting the prisoners multiple times with their swords while Karin was using her Enhanced Strength Technique on the prisoners with her left hand.

"All of you, stay back!" Suigetsu yelled before swinging his sword at them with both hands.

Sasuke quickly jumped up as he sliced the prisoners, who fell down, with his sword with his right hand.

Karin looked at the prisoners around her before she raised her left fist and used Cherry Blossom Impact on the ground, making the prisoners fall down.

...

15 minutes later.

It took them awhile as they were now inside the Northern Hideout.

Karin used Chakra Enhanced Strength on a male prisoner with her left hand, sending him crashing into the wall with a crater behind him. She looked around to see that all of the prisoners were unconscious. "Well that takes care of them on my end." she said.

Karin suddenly spotted a black key ring with many keys on it hanging from the wall before she walked over to it and picked it up with her right hand. _"This must be what Sasuke was talking about."_ she thought, looking at them. She turned around and walked towards the exit and went over to where she sensed Sasuke and Suigetsu's chakra.

When Karin made it, she stood outside the doorway to see Sasuke putting his sword back in it's holster with his right hand and Suigetsu sighing and holding his sword with both of his hands, unconscious prisoners laid around them.

"The keys!" Karin said.

Sasuke and Suigetsu looked at Karin.

Karin placed her left hand on the doorway. "I found the key ring." she said then held up the keys with her right hand.

...

3 minutes later.

Sasuke, Suigetsu, whose sword was strapped to his back again, and Karin walked through the hallways of the hideout. They stopped walking when they were at a 4 way hall.

Sasuke looked to the left side. "Karin, which way?" he asked, turned his head forward. "Tell us."

Karin looked at Sasuke. "Hey, Sasuke. Quit bossing us around." she said.

"Uh, just calm down and figure it out, would ya?" Suigetsu questioned.

Karin looked to the right side at Suigetsu.

"If you're so proud of your ability then use it." Suigetsu said.

Karin pointed her right index finger at the right hallway. "It's that way." she said lying.

Sasuke and Suigetsu looked at the hallway Karin was pointing to.

Suigetsu sighed as he started to walk down to the hallway. Karin lowered her right hand as she and Sasuke started walking down the hallway. Karin walked on the left side of Sasuke.

Sasuke was about to walk further until he stopped walking when Karin's right hand block his way. He looked at her and followed after her when he saw walked to the forward hallway. They stopped walking as Suigetsu continued to walk without knowing they're somewhere else.

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked.

Karin turned around, blushing a little and pointed her right index finger to the forward hallway. "It's actually this way. Now come on let's go." she said.

"Why did you lie, Karin?" Sasuke asked then looked to the right side. "Suigetsu went the wrong way."

Karin lowered her right hand. "Suigetsu has a big mouth. I don't like him." she said then grabbed Sasuke's right hand with her left hand. "Come on." walking forward as Sasuke walked with her.

"Let go. I can walk on my own." Sasuke said.

 _"Even though Sasuke's stubborn sometimes. I still love him anyway."_ Karin thought, smiling a little.

...

4 minutes later.

Sasuke and Karin were standing in front of a large grey cell that had a few locks on the right side that was going horizontal and chains in front of that made an 'X'. Sasuke on the left side and Karin was on the right side.

"This it?" Sasuke asked.

Karin looked at Sasuke. "Yeah, Jugo's in this cell." she said then turned forward as she pulled the key ring out of her right pocket with her right hand and started unlocking the locks. When she was done, she dropped the keys to the floor. "Kay, I'm gonna open it." then reached for the door knob with her left hand but pulled it back when Sasuke's right hand quickly grabbed it.

Karin looked at Sasuke. "No, I'm going in first. Now just stay behind me." he said.

Karin looked down, blushing a little bit. "Uh, right." she said, backing away a little and lowering her left hand.

Sasuke gripped the door knob with his right hand before he opened it up to see an 18 year old man who was tall and muscular, had short spiky orange hair, pale skin, orange-red eyes, wearing a short sleeved pale blue shirt, pale green shorts, and a black ball and chain was on his right foot, was sitting down inside and suddenly black markings appeared from under his clothes and on his face.

"Bingo, you're dead!" Jugo yelled, running towards Sasuke and Karin.

Karin screamed.

Sasuke placed his right hand on his sword.

Jugo continued to scream as he continued to run towards them.

Karin moved to the left side and her lower half fell to the ground as Jugo pushed Sasuke into the wall, creating a crater. She noticed that Jugo's left hand transformed into a grey spiky large hand and the left side of his face turned grey, and his left eye turned black and yellow.

"Sasuke!" Karin yelled.

Jugo laughed wickedly.

Karin started to get up until Jugo started to do something.

"No, not just yet!" Jugo said then activated his left hand to hit Sasuke even more, causing a wave of air and dust to appear.

Karin closed her eyes and grunted as she covered her face with her hands. A few seconds later, Karin stood up as she uncovered her face and the dust started to disappear, sensing that Sasuke's chakra has changed.

 _"Sasuke's chakra has..."_ Karin thought then saw Sasuke had a grey wing on the right side of him, which was protecting him from Jugo's attack, and the right side of his face was grey, and his right eye was yellow and black.

Jugo stopped smiling at Sasuke.

"He just transformed." Karin said.

Sasuke started pushing Jugo away.

Jugo smiled again as he started laughing. "So, you're just another copy of my are you?" he questioned.

 _"Sasuke...!"_ Karin thought worried.

"Still it's pretty impressive you can pull off a partial transformation like that!" Jugo yelled then backed from Sasuke. "Y'know you're pretty good at using the curse mark! I haven't seen a copy-cat this good since Kimimaro!" becoming serious.

Sasuke slowly stood on the floor again then he lifted his head up, looking at Jugo. "I'm not here to fight you." he said.

Jugo and Karin continued to look at Sasuke.

"The only reason I'm here is to talk to you, Jugo." Sasuke said.

"To talk?" Jugo questioned.

Sasuke started untransforming. "That's right, Jugo. I came to take you out of here." he said.

"You're gonna get me outta here?" Jugo questioned then started laughing before he stopped. "Are you out of your mind?! He's gone! Without him with me, I can never leave this place."

When Sasuke turned back to normal, he pulled his shirt back over his right side with his left hand as he stared at Jugo.

"Now do you understand me?" Jugo asked.

 _"Kimimaro..."_ Jugo thought.

The 3 of them stood in silence for a moment.

Karin sensed Suigetsu coming towards their location.

"I'll say it again. I don't wanna fight you. I came to get you out of here and that's all. I want you to come with me." Sasuke said.

"Don't you see I can't leave here. Never again!" Jugo yelled, charging at Sasuke with his right fist.

Sasuke dodged Jugo's attack by jumping on his back and jumped a few feet away from him, facing him.

Jugo yelled as he charged at Sasuke.

"Sasuke no!" Karin yelled.

Jugo tried to attack Sasuke with his left hand but Sasuke deflected the attack with his right hand, making Jugo crash into the wall on the left side of Sasuke, making a crater. Jugo turned around and charged at Sasuke again with his left hand but Sasuke jumped into the air and landed behind him, facing him.

"You take him down. Kill him, Sasuke." Karin said smiling.

Jugo tried to attack Sasuke again with his left hand but Sasuke jumped out of the way and Jugo hit the wall, causing parts of the cieling to collapse and dust covered the air. Sasuke jumped onto the roof.

"I won't let you escape!" Jugo yelled, jumping onto the roof, following Sasuke.

Karin stopped smiling and closed her eyes and covered her mouth with her right hand, coughing a little.

Suigetsu walked over with his hands on the back of his head. "Woah, what is going on here?" he asked.

Karin opened her eyes and lowered her right hand from her face.

"Oh." Karin said annoyed.

Suigetsu took his hands off of his head. "You really are a piece of work, you know that?" he questioned, stopping a few feet from Karin. "You tricked me back there."

Karin placed her right hand on her right hip. "Oh give me a break, Suigetsu. You got lost all on your own." she said.

"I got lost because I followed your directions." Suigetsu said.

Karin took her right hand off of her right hip, becoming more annoyed. "Listen I really resent that accusation!" she said. "What would be the point anyway? What would I get out of tricking you like that?"

Suigetsu turned around a little. "Why you get to be alone with your boyfriend, isn't that right?" he asked.

"What?!" Karin questioned, putting her right hand on her glasses. "Um, no way! And it's none of your business what me and Sasuke do together! So shut it!" then turned around and taking her right hand off of her glasses.

Suigetsu stopped smiling. "Yeah, whatever. Anyway, what happened while I was wandering around?" he asked, turning fully around.

"Jugo just went wild and attacked." Karin said.

"I see." Suigetsu said. "So you 2 went looking for Jugo after all." then turned around and looked at Karin. "And Sasuke?"

"He and Jugo went outside." Karin said.

Suigetsu turned around again. "Well, Sasuke's tough. He can handle anyone, even somebody this powerful." he said.

"Yeah, let's hope." Karin said.

"Jugo's even stronger then?" Suigetsu asked

"Well yeah." Karin said.

"By the way, you said that you probably know why Jugo actually came to Orochimaru of his own free will?" Suigetsu asked.

"Yeah." Karin said.

"But why?" Suigetsu asked.

"To get fixed probably." Karin said.

Suigetsu turned around again and looked at Karin. "Get fixed?" he said.

"Possible to Jugo, Orochimaru's Hideout is probably like some kind of rehabilitation facility where he can get better." Karin said.

"But what if Jugo wanna fix about himself?" Suigetsu asked.

"Jugo's impulses are like an addiction, he can't do anything about it on his own." Karin said.

"Huh?" Suigetsu questioned.

"He simply wants to control his urges to slaughter." Karin said.

...

A few minutes later.

Karin sensed Sasuke and Jugo were coming to their location from in front of her. "They're coming." she said, backing away a few feet.

Suigetsu took out his sword with his left hand and reached into his right pocket with his right hand and pulled out his sword handle before putting it on the sword. "Then it's time." he said moving forward a little bit, holding the sword up with both hands.

Suigetsu and Karin watched as Sasuke and Jugo came running towards them.

Sasuke turned to the left side a little bit to see that Jugo was about to attack him with his left arm so he looked forward and jumped out of the way. Suigetsu sword with Jugo's left arm, causing Jugo to stop running. Sasuke stopped running as he turned around and saw that Jugo and Suigetsu were standing a few feet away from each other.

"Who are you?" Jugo asked Suigetsu.

Suigetsu took his right hand off of his sword, smiling. "You're using a different technique than you did before Jugo." he said, putting his right hand back on his sword. "Not too bad. I like it."

"Stop, Suigetsu." Sasuke said.

Jugo smirked. "Yes, of course. We fought before Suigetsu. I remember now." he said, turning part of his left hand into an axe.

"You know this guy really is dangerous, Sasuke." Suigetsu said.

"Sasuke?" Jugo questioned, looking to the right side at Sasuke.

"We didn't come here to fight, Suigetsu. Just let me talk to him." Sasuke said.

"I seriously doubt anything you say is gonna get through to him. The only thing he understands is force!" Suigetsu said then started swinging his sword at Jugo.

Jugo yelled as he swung his left arm at Suigetsu, both of them clashed. Suigetsu yelled as he swung his sword at Jugo, who ducked and stood up.

"Stop it, both of you." Sasuke said.

 _"No, don't stop. Kill each other off."_ Karin thought smiling, raising her right fist.

Jugo and Suigetsu were about to clash again until Sasuke stood in between them, wrapping them and their swords around the snakes coming from his sleeves, causing them to freeze.

Karin stopped smiling as she lowered her right hand.

"Do you both want me to kill you is that it?" Sasuke questioned.

The hallway went silent for a momentt before Sasuke started unwrapping the snakes from Jugo and Suigetsu before they went back under his sleeves.

Suigetsu lowered his sword. _"He really was about to kill us just now."_ he thought.

Karin smiled again, blushing as she placed her right hand on her chin. _"Ah, Sasuke. You're incredible."_ she thought before she stopped smiling and blushing as she lowered her right hand from her chin.

Jugo unactivated his curse mark second state and started freaking out. Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin looked at Jugo before he ran back into his cell, closing the door with his left hand. They heard quietness for a few seconds before they heard screaming. Suigetsu put his handle back in his right pocket with his right hand and his sword on his back with his left hand.

"Please just hurry and lock the door!" Jugo yelled, sitting down as his hands were in his hair.

"Jugo. I mean you no harm. I only came to free you." Sasuke said. "Please, come out and join me."

"I guess he's too frightened." Suigetsu said.

"You're wrong. That's not it at all." Karin said.

Sasuke and Suigetsu looked at Karin.

"I don't wanna kill anymore people! If I go outside this place I will! I'm begging you, just leave me alone! Please!" Jugo yelled.

"What? How weird." Suigetsu questioned. "That's some split personality right there."

"I told you. Jugo and his clan succumbs to irrepressible murderous urges and it's like their someone else." Karin said. "He'll lose his control of himself, but the truth is he actually rather not kill." walking up a little bit to the cell.

"I don't know when I'll lose control and kill someone again. So just put the lock on the door and leave me be!" Jugo yelled.

"I don't think Jugo's gonna work out, Sasuke." Suigetsu said then looked at Sasuke. "We're constantly gonna have to watch our backs around him encase he starts to lose control."

"Who the hell are you people anyway?!" Jugo asked then took his hands out of his hair as he turned to the door. "I just wanna be left alone!"

Everything went silent for a moment.

Sasuke closed his eyes and opened them again, walking up to the door. "Orochimaru is dead. This hideout is completely destroyed. If you stay here you'll die, too." he said.

Jugo turned his head forward as he closed his eyes. "I don't care. At least then I can never kill anybody else." he said.

Sasuke stopped at the door. "Listen to me, don't worry. I'll be your cage, Jugo. I can keep you under control." he said.

Jugo opened his eyes. "There's nothing you can do. Only one person can subdue my impulses, Kimimaro. Without, Kimimaro I won't leave." he said.

"Wait Kimimaro? You mean the guy from the Kaguya Clan?" Suigetsu asked.

"Yeah." Karin said then looked to the right side at Suigetsu. "I think of all of the people here Jugo and Kimimaro were Orochimaru's favorites. Possibly they were kept here together right here in this hideout for live experimentation. And Kimimaro was very strong, I guess he was the only one who could stop Jugo's violent rampages without harming him. Orochimaru's precious research subject."

"Even though, you haven't been around Orochimaru and others, you sure know a lot." Suigetsu said, looking at Karin.

"I've researched many things over the years." Karin said.

"But I thought Kimimaro was.. isn't he dead?" Suigetsu questioned.

"Yeah." Karin said.

"Jugo, you should know Kimimaro died for me." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu and Karin looked forward.

"He's gone." Sasuke said.

Jugo's eyes widened in surprise. "Wait a second." he said. "If he did that for you then that mean that you're Uchiha? Sasuke Uchiha?"

"That's right." Sasuke said.

Jugo started to get and turn around as he remembered him and Kimimaro talking for the last before Sasuke the door with his left hand. Jugo started to step out of the cell.

 _"So that's what happened, Kimimaro."_ Jugo thought, his right hand on the door.

Everyone stood in silence for a moment again.

* * *

Outside of the Northern Hideout.

The 4 of were now standing outside. From left to right, Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo were standing as they were facing Sasuke, who was looking at them.

"Good. Now I've gathered my perfect team. Here it is, this is my plan. My ultimate goal is to kill Itachi Uchiha of the Akatsuki." Sasuke said.

"I thought you were gonna say that." Suigetsu said.

Jugo continued to stare at Sasuke.

 _"Even if you do kill Itachi, how will your be with your family, Konoha, Oniisan.. or even me...?"_ Karin thought. _"If we do find him, you won't let me help fight with you, even after what he did to my clan and tried to kill me..."_

"But to succeed I'll need help from all of you. Of course, it's your choice." Sasuke said then looked at Karin. "Karin, are you sure about traveling with us? You have Konohagakure and the Academy to go back to."

Karin snapped out of her thoughts. "Oh uh, there's no rush me to go back so I'll travel with you guys. I can go back anytime I want." she said, putting her right hand on her chin as her glasses fogged up.

Suigetsu looked to the left side at Karin. "Karin, just be honest and tell the truth would ya." he said then smiled. "The only thing you're really interested in being around Sasuke who is also your boyfriend, isn't that right?"

Karin became annoyed as she looked at Suigetsu, putting her right hand on her glasses. "What?! No, that just ridiculous! It's ridiculous how ridiculous that is!" she yelled then pointed her right index finger at Suigetsu. "No you're ridiculous!"

"What I am is right. I mean why else would you get all flustered like that. Hah rich." Suigetsu said, folding his arms. "Even though you 2 are dating, I know something else that you and Sasuke already di-"

Karin's eyes widened and she punched Suigetsu with her right fist, making Suigetsu's head turn into water. Karin growled angrily, unfisting her right hand before she stood up straight.

"Suigetsu, don't get Karin worked up." Sasuke said, looking at Suigetsu. "I thought I told you to cooperate."

"Alright, I will. I'm sorry, Karin truly." Suigetsu said, unfolding his arms, his head turning back to normal. "Look, you may hate it but I'm not going anywhere. I'm sticking like glue to Sasuke. At least I am until I find and locate one of the 7 Hidden Mist Blades. I'm on the hunt for Kisame Hoshigaki's giant sword, Samehada. And is also Itachi Uchiha's partner."

"You just want to get another sword?" Karin questioned then closed her eyes. "How pathetic."

Suigetsu looked at Karin, annoyed.

"Suigetsu." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu folded his arms again, closing his eyes. "Yeah, I know." he said then opened his eyes as he looked at Jugo on the right side. "Jugo, what are you gonna do?"

Karin opened her eyes.

Jugo looked at Suigetsu. "Kimimaro said that he considered you his reincarnation, Sasuke. And sacrificed his life to protect you." he said then looked at Sasuke. "So that's why I wanna see what kind of shinobi you really are with my own eyes."

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin looked at Sasuke.

"Then it's all set. Now that we're a team we all move together as one and from this point on we will be known as 'The Hebi'. 'The Hebi' has only one goal is to kill Itachi Uchiha."

* * *

1 hour later.

Sasuke, Jugo, and Karin were standing while Suigetsu was sitting on a large brown rock, sipping on one of his water bottles with his right hand smiling.

Karin placed her right hand on her right hip, looking up at Suigetsu, annoyed. "What are you?! Are you a fish out of water or something?!" she questioned. "Quit sitting down every few minutes to hydrate yourself!" then looked down. _"We've just started the team and I already want to kill him."_ she thought, sighing.

...

40 minutes later.

Somewhere near Konohagakure.

The 4 of them continued to walk through the Rocky Place as it was very sunny outside. Sasuke was in front, Jugo was behind Sasuke, and Karin was behind them, while Suigetsu was a few feet behind them.

 _"We're really going here? What if anyone of the Uchiha clan saw us?"_ Karin thought, looking at the

Suigetsu was sipping on one of his water bottles with his right hand, his eyes closed. "I can't take it. Let's take a break already." he said.

Karin stopped and turned around and pointed her left index finger at Suigetsu. "Keep complaining and dragging your feet like this and we're never gonna make it there!" she yelled, her glasses fogging up.

Jugo stopped and turned around, looking at Suigetsu and Karin.

"Well excuse me, but unlike you I have a very delicate constitution." Suigetsu said.

Karin placed her left hand on the left side of her face, blushing a little from the heat. "What?! Look, why don't you just go evaporate already you water monster!" she asked.

Suigetsu was blushing a little bit from the heat as well. "Hey, here's a better. Why don't you get lost? Didn't you say you had other places to go?" he questioned, walking past Karin.

Karin took her left hand of the left side of her face and twitched her fingers in angry at what Suigetsu told her.

Jugo placed his right hand in his hair, smiling a little.

Sasuke stopped walking. "Enough, we're here." he said.

Jugo, who turned around and put his right hand down from his head, Suigetsu, who opened his eyes and stopped walking, and Karin looked forward at a large grey building city.

"Hmm?" Jugo and Suigetsu questioned.

Karin put her hands down. _"So, we really are going here, Sora-ku city. I'm not sensing another in the Uchiha clan here. But I shouldn't let my guard down."_ she thought.

...

10 minutes later.

The 4 of them were walking through the a medium sized yellow and red gate that had the kanji for Sora-ku on it in black letters. They walked through the seemingly abandoned city as Karin sensed a few chakras around the area until they turned to the right side at an open door way. Sasuke was standing in front while from left to right, Suigetsu, Jugo, and Karin were standing behind him.

"This is it." Sasuke said.

"I gotta say, this is one sketchy looking place." Suigetsu said.

"Let's go." Sasuke said then walked inside.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin followed after him.

As the 4 of them continued walking, they stepped through a dark hallway that had many pipes on the cieling and a few against the walls. Suigetsu was on the left side of Sasuke, Karin was on the right side of Sasuke, and Jugo was behind them.

"Uh huh, a hideout in a wasteland like this one. I never heard of it." Suigetsu said.

Sasuke turned to the left side to look at Suigetsu. "This isn't Orochimaru's. It's a mmunition store the Uchiha clan uses. We'll outfit ourselves with supplies for battle." he said then turned forward.

"This is like a maze. All the passages look the same it must be easy to get lost in here." Suigetsu said.

"I haven't seen this place in 3 years and it's harder to breath in here." Karin said looking around the hallway a little, sensing 2 familiar chakras behind them.

"I'm sorry to hear you feel that way way, Karin." a male voice said.

The 4 of them stopped and turned around.

"Ha, it's been a long time, Denka and Hina." Sasuke said.

On the right side was Denka, a small male cat that had light brown fur with dark brown fur on his ears, cheeks, paws, and tail, his eyes were squinted but were dark brown, had a kanji for shinobi written in black on his forehead, wearing his usual outfit, a long sleeved blue kimono with a white sash wrapped around it, and a grey mesh shirt, and on the left side was Hina, a small female cat that had light brown fur, 3 black markings on each side of her cheeks and some on her face, her eyes were squinted but her eye color was brown, wearing her usual outfit, a long sleeved red kimono with a white sash wrapped around it, and a grey mesh shirt, were standing on the floor.

"Well if it isn't our Sasuke-boy." Denka said.

"So tell us what can we do for you?" Hina said then meowed.

"We need weapons and medicine. As well as some other supplies. We need to prepare for battle." Sasuke said.

"Are those really?" Jugo asked.

Suigetsu closed his eyes as he talked towards the cats. "Hah, yeah they're talking tanuki." he said then crouched down, opening his eyes as he held out his left to them. "Come here, little guy."

Denka hissed as he almost tried to bite Suigetsu.

Suigetsu gasas he pulled his left hand back.

"They're ninja cats, so be careful and respectful or they'll tear you apart." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu looked at Sasuke. "You wanna warn us about stuff like that before hand." he said.

"So, did you bring us a present?" Hina asked then meowed.

Sasuke reached into his pouch with his right hand and held it up. "Here, a bottle of catnip for you." he said.

Hina ran up and jumped, taking the bottle of catnip from Sasuke by putting it in her mouth then landed on the ground. "It's my favorite." she said then meowed, looking at Sasuke.

Denka walked and stopped on the left side of Hina. "Follow me and I'll take you to Granny Cat." he said.

...

8 minutes later.

The 4 of them were in a shop that had books, cat related things everywhere, cats, and boxes of clothes. Granny Cat, an old woman that looks to be in her late 70's had fair skin, long grey hair that made a large circle, her eyes were squinted but she had black eyes, black paint on her nose, wearing her usual outfit, an orange kimono like dress that had green trimmings and green on the sleeves, light purple scarf wrapped around her neck, black cat ears on her head that is keeping her hair in place, long grey pants with a yellow and green pattern at the ends of them, and grey sandals, was smoking a pipe with her right hand, was surrounded by cats, and a carpet was under her. She had a bed behind her with orange blankets and a pillow.

"I am grateful, Granny Cat." Sasuke said, crouching down a few feet away from her.

"It's been too long since I've seen you. I'm sorry you're in such a hurry." Granny Cat said.

Sasuke looked down at some of the items, picking up a small purple bottle with his right hand. "Yeah, I have an important task." he said.

Karin was standing on the right side and holding her right hand with her left hand as a light brown cat was standing on her right side, looking up at her. She was watching Sasuke and Granny Cat from afar.

Suigetsu was crouching down in front of 3 cats, one was black and 2 were cream colored, as he held out his left hand to them. "Now, you're not a ninja cat are you?" he asked smiling. "No you're not."

Jugo, who now had on long black pants, long black sandals, was standing in front of Tamaki, a 16 year old girl that had fair skin, long brown hair that reached her waist and bangs that covered her forehead, hazel eyes, wearing her usual outfit, a sleeveless orange blouse, long cream colored pants, short fishnet stockings, wrapped bandages wrapped around her left elbow, and black sandals, was holding up a long sleeved black long sleeved shirt with both hands at him.

"No good, even the XXL doesn't fit." Tamaki said.

"Sorry." Jugo said.

Sasuke placed the bottle next to the others on a lavender clothed that had bottles, small books, and other items before he picked it up with both hands as he rolled it up.

"So it's true, you're still going to go after Itachi?" Granny Cat questioned.

Sasuke scrapped the cloth closed with his left hand as he held it with her right hand.

"To think that I've known the both of you since you were just wee little things, never did imagine it would come to this. Now half of Uchiha clan clan as well as the Uzumaki clan were killed by him." Granny Cat said. "And you 2 brothers must kill each other."

Sasuke continued to scrap the cloth and placed it in his pouch with his right hand before he handed out a small stack of money to Granny Cat. "We'll be going now but thank you for all that you've done." he said.

Granny Cat sighed softly. "And it was nice seeing you too, Karin." she said.

Karin turned to the left side a little. "Yeah, you too." she said.

Tamaki looked over at her grandmother. "Nothing fits him, Granny." she said, holding the shirt down. "Don't we have any larger clothes for him to try on around here?"

Granny Cat groaned a little. "Did you check in that box?" she asked, looking at her granddaughter.

"I did. They're all too small." Tamaki said.

"Then just wrap him in that curtain over there. We're not running a clothing store here, you know." Granny Cat said.

Tamaki put her left hand down. "But Granny Cat, that's so rude. They are paying us, you know." she said.

Jugo grabbed a purple curtain on the left side with his left hand before he covered himself with it.

Tamaki looked up at Jugo.

"There." Jugo said.

 _"At least, that'll do for now."_ Karin thought.

...

2 hours later.

It was raining in the Rocky Area now. The 4 of them were standing on one of the large rocks as they were wearing black hooded cloaks. From left to right, Sasuke, Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo,in his new usual outfit, a long purple shirt that was made from the curtain, long black pants, and long black sandals, were looking over the area. They stood in silence before Sasuke said something.

"Time to go." Sasuke said.

The 4 of them disappeared.

* * *

Tomorrow.

Unknown Forest.

Day Time.

Taka was walking out of the forest as from left to right, Jugo and Suigetsu and behind them, Karin and Sasuke. They suddenly stopped walking.

Suigetsu looked at Jugo, smiling. "Well then, it's time to go." he said.

"Itachi Uchiha, huh. I hope we can find him." Jugo said.

Suigetsu turned forward as he and Jugo jumped into the air and disappeared.

Karin turned and walked over to Sasuke, who was standing and looking up into the sky, before she grabbed the left side of him with her right hand.

Sasuke looked down at Karin.

"I guess I better head out too. I'll see you later." Karin said then turned away from Sasuke as she released her right hand from him.

Karin suddenly stopped when she felt her right hand was grabbed, she looked to the right side to Sasuke staring at her as his left hand was on her right hand.

"Be careful out there." Sasuke said.

Karin smiled. "Yeah, same thing to you." she said.

Sasuke's left hand released Karin's right hand before Karin walked away and disappeared. Sasuke turned forward before he looked back into the sky.

...

10 minutes later.

Unknown Village.

Karin was walking through the crowd of people as she was looking down at the ground, thinking about recent events.

 _"Even if we kill Itachi, things still won't be the same."_ Karin thought, sighing. _"Just like when Mother and Father died."_ she stopped walking and she snapped out of her thoughts as she sensed a very familiar chakra a meters away from her. _"What is she doing here?!"_

Karin looked to the right side and saw a nice space between 2 buildings before she walked over to it through the crowd of people and hid before she held up her hands and made hand signs.

"Transform." Karin said.

A puff of smoke appeared around her and disappeared to reveal that Karin had transformed into a 17 year old girl that had fair skin, shoulder length orange hair, black eyes, wearing a short sleeved brown shirt, long beige pants, black cloak, and black sandals.

"Now she won't recognize me." Karin said.

Karin walked out of the space and walked where she sensed the familiar chakra. A few meters away, she saw Sakura, in her usual outfit with a white cloak with red stripes at the bottom of it. Karin saw 2 dogs beside Sakura, the one on the left side was Shiba, a medium sized dog that has light grey fur with white undersides and black crest on his head reminiscent of a mohawk, black eyes with round and have black markings above them, black nose, wearing his usual outfit, a ninken outfit, a blue vest with the heno-heno-moheji symbol on the back, dark blue Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his neck, and white bandages wrapped around his front legs, and on the right side was Biscuit, a medium sized dog that had tan fur with brown highlights on his long ears and legs, written black in kanji for 'shinobi' in the middle of his forehead, black circular markings around his eyes, black eyes, black nose, wearing his usual outfit, the ninken outfit, a blue vest with the heno-heno-moheji symbol on the back of it, and a blue Forehead Protector wrapped around his neck.

 _"If Sakura's here, Oniisan and the others must be in the area, probably searching for Sasuke."_ Karin thought. _"She's tracking Sasuke down. I must've touched when we departed."_ remembering it recently.

Karin continued walking through the crowd of people as she saw Sakura look around then forward. Less than a minute later, she, Sakura, and the dogs passed each other and walked away from one another.

Karin sighed before she walked to the left side to a space in between 2 buildings and untransformed, returning back to her usual self. She walked out of the space and looked into the direction Sakura headed into.

 _"I have to warn the others that we must be cautious of the area now. And I've given it a thorough once over but I don't sense any worrisome chakra."_ Karin thought then took her glasses off with her right hand, smiling. _"Maybe I'll go back to Sasuke. The others probably aren't back yet, so I'll have him all to myself."_ then placed her glasses back on as she turned around and walked through the crowd of people.

...

1 hour later.

Karin continued to walk through the village, still looking for leads on Itachi.

 _Still nothing, these people don't know anything about Itachi. Suigetsu and Jugo probably don't have anything either."_ Karin thought. _"I better head back to Sasuke."_

Karin stopped walking and looked up into the sky to see a white bright explosion. She and the other villagers were surprised to see it so far away.

 _"Sasuke, no. It can't be."_ Karin thought then closed her eyes as she held up her right index and middle fingers, trying to sense Sasuke's chakra but couldn't. She opened her eyes and gasped, her right hand near her face. _"I can't sense Sasuke's chakra anymore."_

Karin put her right hand down as she started to run towards the explosion.

...

24 minutes later.

Near a River.

From right to left, Jugo and Karin ran together as Karin sensed Sasuke and Suigetsu nearby. They met up a few minutes after the explosion. The 2 of them were now a few feet away from them.

Karin saw Manda, who was now dead and dirty.

"There you are!" Karin yelled.

Sasuke, who had his Sharingan on, was crouching down on the ground as his left hand was on his left knee and right hand on the ground, and Suigetsu, who was also crouching down on the ground, looked at Jugo and Karin. Sasuke was missing his left arm guard and left sandals, had his shirt off, his bangs covered his forehead, and he was bruised.

"I thought you'd be here. Your chakra suddenly disappeared so I wondered what happened." Karin said. "Did you transport yourself or something?"

Suigetsu looked at Sasuke. "You hide yourself inside Manda and you used the transportation technique to escape to another dimension, that right?" he asked. Then why are you so beat up?"

Sasuke looked at Suigetsu as he placed his left hand on the ground.

Jugo and Karin stopped walking as Karin stopped next to Sasuke and Jugo stopped next to Suigetsu.

"Just before we jumped, Manda and I were hit by the blast wave. My opponent was from Akatsuki, he was stronger than I expected." Sasuke said.

Karin placed her left hand below her chin, blushing a little bit as she looked down at Sasuke. _"Sasuke's so cool looking when he's all beaten up like that._ _" she thou_ ght.

"Well in any case, you'll need some time rest up." Suigetsu said then looked up at Karin. "Isn't that right, Karin?"

Karin snapped out of her thoughts as she stopped blushing and looked at Suigetsu, closing her eyes and she made her a left fist and cleared her throat. She opened her eyes and looked at Sasuke, pointing her left index finger at him. "How pathetic! I can't believe you're the man who killed Orochimaru!" she said.

"Orochimaru was already weakened to begin with. That's all I'll say about that." Sasuke said then looked down.

 _"This was a strong opponent as Sasuke looks like this. And I don't sense Oniisan and the others nearby."_ Karin thought.

...

34 minutes later.

Nikko Inn-Town.

Okoshi Inn.

Sasuke was sitting on a futon with brown and beige covers on him. He had white bandages wrapped around his forehead as his bangs weren't covering it and a white band-aid on his left cheek, and blue pants.

Jugo, who didn't have his shirt on, was crouching down on the right side of Sasuke as he was wrapping white bandages around his chest. Suigetsu was on right side of the wall with one of the shoji doors on the left side of him while his sword was laying on the right side of him as he was laying his right arm on his right leg. Karin, who doesn't have her pouch on, was standing a few feet away from the futon with her arms crossed. Their sandals were outside.

"Ha, you said we'll take down Itachi. But in this condition, your barely even able to move." Karin said.

Suigetsu looked up at Karin "Look Karin, we'd been going non-stop lately. We need the rest." he said.

Karin turned to Suigetsu, pointing her right index finger at him. "Give me a break! That's all you've done is rest you punk!" she yelled.

Jugo finished bandaging Sasuke up as he placed his left hand on his right shoulder. "There, it's all done." he said then took his left hand off of Sasuke's right shoulder and stood up and walked over to the window.

Sasuke started putting on a blue kimono that had light grey trimmings with both hands.

"Tch, you didn't do a thing at that academy you were going to, so don't start saying that I'm lazy." Suigetsu said.

Karin made her hands into fists, annoyed. "What did you just say?! Do you want a piece of me?!" she asked yelling. "Well come on then, bring it on!"

Jugo sat down on the window as birds started coming to him, sitting on his shoulder.

Sasuke finished putting on his kimono. "That's enough you 2." he said.

Suigetsu and Karin stopped arguing as they looked at Sasuke.

"Suigetsu. Karin. Have you gathered data on Itachi like I asked you 2?" Sasuke asked.

Karin became annoyed. "You're not in any shape to boss the rest of us around y'know!" she said.

"Well, I've picked up some intel about the Akatsuki here and there, but nothing specific about Itachi I'm afraid." Suigetsu said.

Karin unfisted her hands as she raised them to her head. "I've got nothing." she said then lowered her hands.

"It appears that they're targeting specific people." Suigetsu said.

Sasuke looked at Suigetsu.

"Or at least they're after people who have very special chakra." Suigetsu said.

Sasuke turned forward. "Special chakra. I see." he said, thinking about Naruto.

 _"Soon, they'll be after Oniisan. They're going to extract the Nine-Tails from him."_ Karin thought, worried.

"I've been conversing with the animals and I've pinpointed a few Akatsuki hideouts." Jugo said.

Sasuke and Suigetsu stared at Jugo.

"It seems they sense powerful unpleasant chakra coming from those places." Jugo said then looked at his right shoulder to see a small brown bird on it. "That's what the animals told me."

Suigetsu smiled. "Wow. So what you're saying is even lowly animals have the ability to sense chakra." he said then closed his eyes. "Or maybe it's because they're so lowly. Just like you, Karin."

Karin snapped out of her thoughts as she angrily turned to Suigetsu, raising her left foot.

Suigetsu opened his eyes and gasped as Karin slammed her left foot into his head, making his head turn into water again.

"What did you just say?!" Karin asked yelling.

A few drops of water landed on the right side of Sasuke's face.

Karin crouched down on the floor as she started punching Suigetsu repeatedly in the face with both of her fists.

Jugo stayed silent as the bird on his right shoulder flew away and started shaking.

Sasuke looked at Karin beating up Suigetsu.

"Suigetsu, I'm not gonna let you get away with it this time!" Karin yelled.

"Hey! Hey, wait! Stop! Just relax, Karin!" Suigetsu said.

Sasuke turned forward to see Jugo was transforming.

"I wanna kill. I must kill." Jugo said.

Karin stopped punching Suigetsu, who's head was turning back to normal, and stood up. Suigetsu stood up as well.

Jugo got off of the window and stood up on the floor and started roaring. Suigetsu and Karin ran over to Jugo and restrained him, Suigetsu held him behind and Karin held from the front. Suigetsu and Karin looked at Sasuke.

"Oh no! Jugo's impulses have started!" Karin said.

"Sasuke, hurry!" Suigetsu said.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan. "Calm down now, Jugo." he said.

Jugo stopped roaring and struggling as he stopped transforming and started turning back to normal. When Jugo was done he crouched down to the floor along with Suigetsu and Karin, who released him. Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin started panting.

"Sorry. Sorry about that." Jugo said.

The 3 of them stopped panting looked to see Sasuke was sleeping while his top half was still up. Jugo stood up and walked over to Sasuke and crouched down on the right side of him, laying Sasuke's top half on the futon and covered him up with the sheets before moving backwards a little. The small brown bird came back and flew in before it landed on the right side of Jugo's shoulder. Jugo looked at the bird.

Suigetsu looked to the left side at Karin, annoyed. "Screaming, making a fuss." he said. "This is your fault."

Karin looked right side at Suigetsu. "What?" she questioned. "It's your fault, too."

"Karin. You're always trying to provoke me. Just what are you up to trying to do that?" Suigetsu asked, standing up on the floor. "I thought I already made it clear to you, I don't intend to leave Sasuke's team for any reason."

Karin became annoyed. "Look, I'm not up to anything, you always make it sound like I'm planning something huge scheme to get you or something. I just trying to test your-" she said but stopped and turned to Jugo when he started to say something.

Suigetsu looked at Jugo as well.

"I.. I need Sasuke beside me. He can replace Kimimaro.. and he's the only one now. Sasuke, he said that he would become my cage.. and right now only he can stop my impulses. Like he did for me just now." Jugo said, looking down at Sasuke.

"Yeah well." Suigetsu said then looked down at Karin. "Other than to be with her boyfriend here, I don't know why she won't leave."

Karin closed her eyes. "Hmph." she said.

Suigetsu looked at Jugo again. "But my own cage is unlocked and the door is completely wide open. We can leave, anytime that we might want to."

Karin opened her eyes as she and Suigetsu looked down at Sasuke.

"But then again." Suigetsu said.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin quietly watched Sasuke sleep.

...

45 minutes later.

Karin, who now has her pouch and sandals on, was walking through one of the streets of Nikko Inn-Town as she was carrying a medium sized brown paper bag in her hands. She was done getting supplies for Hebi and was heading back to the Inn.

"Ah, I wish it would get dark already." Karin said, smiling and blushing. "When Jugo and Suigetsu sleep, me and Sasuke could finally have some alone time after so long." closing her eyes and started laughing. "Hm, I'm so excited." then opened her eyes as she stopped laughing and grabbed a small pink bottle of perfume out of her right pocket with her right hand, closing her eyes as she started spraying herself a little bit then stopped.

Karin opened her eyes and stopped blushing as she wasn't smiling anymore, sensing very familiar chakras coming towards her as they were far away. She stopped walking as she turned her head around to the left side. "This feeling." she said, putting her perfume back in her right pocket before she turned forward and closed her eyes. _"Yep, they're coming and fast. I'm detecting Oniisan as well as the others."_ she thought, sensing Naruto, Kakashi, 2 unknown chakras, Kiba, Shino, Akamaru, Hinata, and Sakura. _"And I know they're using dogs to track us. I have to warn Sasuke."_ opening her eyes.

...

3 minutes later.

One of the Rooms.

Jugo sitting at the window as birds were on his shoulders. Sasuke, who had his charcoal black eyes, was laying down on the futon wake, looking up at the ceiling. Suigetsu was sitting on the floor on the right side of Sasuke.

Suigetsu looked up at Jugo. "Jugo, I guess I better go check on Karin." he said then stood up from the floor.

"Hm." Jugo said.

Suigetsu turned around and walked towards the shoji doors. He was about to grab one of the shoji doors with his right hand until Karin smashed one of the shoji doors down with her left foot and her hands were made into fists. Suigetsu fell down and gasped in pain as one of the doors were now on him. Karin walked in a little as one of the shoji doors were below her feet.

Jugo looked in surprise as the bird's flew away from his shoulders.

"Hey, get off me." Suigetsu said.

"Wake up, Sasuke! We've been followed by Konoha!" Karin said, looking down at Sasuke. "What should we do?"

Sasuke stopped looking at the ceiling as he turned his head to the right side to see at Karin.

Karin blushed softly as she smiled, putting her right hand on her chin. _"Even after waking up, he's still so... hot."_ she thought.

"Everyone get ready. We're leaving." Sasuke said. "Jugo, mark the map with the location of every Akatsuki hideout you've learned about."

...

15 minutes later.

At the Gates of Nikko Inn-Town.

From left to right, Karin, who now had on her cloak, Sasuke, who removed the bandage from his left cheek but the bandages were wrapped around his forehead, and his usual outfit except he no longer had the white shirt and black arm guards and instead had on a sleeveless grey shirt that opened at the torso, white bandages wrapped around his stomach, white bandages wrapped around his wrists, Suigetsu, who had on his sandals, sword, and cloak, and Jugo, who now had his shirt and sandals, were walking away.

"Sure, you're okay, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked.

Sasuke had his eyes closed, putting on his cloak with both of his hands. "Yeah, ever since I've absorbed Orochimaru's power, I heal faster." he said, opening his eyes as he was done putting on his cloak.

Hebi stopped outside the gate before Jugo and Suigetsu turned around towards Sasuke and Karin.

 _"So this is the power of the white snake."_ Sasuke thought.

"Whether it's the Akatsuki coming or the Hidden Leaf, they might have Intel on Itachi. Why don't we just ambush them, Sasuke?" Jugo asked, looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at Jugo. "From what Karin told me about the number of people tracking us. She sensed that 2 four man teams were coming, that means it's Konoha. The Akatsuki only operate in 2 man teams." he said.

"And if that's the case, then an ambush we be a waste of our time, right?" Suigetsu questioned.

Sasuke looked at Suigetsu. "That's exactly right. Just forget about the Hidden Leaf." he said.

"So, what's the plan then?" Karin asked, looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin. "Itachi is our only priority." he said then pulled a red scroll with his left hand, showing a marked map. "And if worse comes to worse, you 3 will stop Konoha. For now, this is team Hebi's mission, we're going to use the Intel that Jugo gathered and we'll hit the Akatsuki Hideout's one by one." then put the scroll away with his left hand.

"Alright, sounds good." Karin said.

"Let's go." Sasuke said then walked away with Suigetsu following him.

Jugo was about to walk after them until he felt a hand on his left shoulder, he looked behind him to see that Karin had her right hand on his left shoulder.

"Hold on, Jugo. Help me out." Karin said.

"With what?" Jugo asked.

Karin removed her right hand from Jugo's left shoulder. "I need you to gather as many birds as you can." she said.

"Why? What's your plan?" Jugo asked.

Karin pulled out a shirt with her right hand, smirking. "Well, this is one of Sasuke's old outfits. It's soaked with his sweat and scent." she said.

"Wait. Why do you hold onto a sweaty old outfit that Sasuke threw away?" Jugo asked.

Karin stopped smirking. "Because we're gonna use to distract Konoha." she said, placing the shirt in her left hand. "So, anyway here." reaching into her pouch with her right hand and pulled out a kunai.

 _"I hate to this."_ Karin thought, ripping the shirt up with her kunai.

"Sensory type specialties are different for each village." Karin said then smirked again. "The Hidden Leaf tends to use Ninja Hounds for tracking we can use that to our advantage."

The birds started coming to Jugo.

...

15 minutes later.

Forest.

From left, Jugo, Karin, Suigetsu, and Sasuke, who was sitting on a medium sized grey rock, were standing in front of a grey statue as they were a kilometers towards one of the Akatsuki hideouts.

"It's just up ahead, huh." Sasuke said. "You 3 will wait here until I give the order. I'll go check it out." then jumped off the rock as he disappeared.

...

14 minutes later.

Suigetsu was sitting next to a medium sized rock, holding one of his water bottles with his right hand as his sword was laying against the rock on the right side of him. From left to right, Jugo and Karin were standing a few feet away from Suigetsu.

"I wonder if Sasuke's okay?" Suigetsu questioned.

"What's that mean?" Karin asked, looking down at Suigetsu.

"What do you think?" Suigetsu asked, closing his eyes. "What if the first Akatsuki hideout we try is bull's-eye?"

"Wait a minute. Are you saying that Itachi is in this hideout?" Jugo asked, looking down at Suigetsu.

Suigetsu opened his eyes. "I don't know. I only said 'what if'." he said smiling, looking up at Jugo and Karin. "This Itachi supposed to be pretty strong, isn't he?"

"No, there's no way that Sasuke could lose to him. He's been training for years. No way." Karin said then looked down sadly.

Suigetsu closed his eyes. "Well I hope not, but maybe we should be planning for the worst scenario here." he said.

 _"Sasuke. If Itachi really is here, we'll defeat him together."_ Karin thought. She became serious. "Alright, I'm going to check inside. If anything happens we're going in." she said.

Suigetsu opened his eyes, looking up at Karin. "You're what? And why are you taking over all of a sudden?" he asked. "Boy, when it comes to Sasuke you always go overboard."

Karin placed her right hand on the right side of her glasses. "No, I don't! That just isn't true at all!" she said, blushing. "I'm only worried about him! Fine, I won't go! You idiot!"

"And I'll ask the birds. I'll have them scour the entire area and keep an eye for the approach of any enemies." Jugo said.

Suigetsu gasped before he smirked, looking to the left side. "Damn. Just listen to you, too." he said. _"They're so diligent"_ he thought.

...

8 minutes later.

Cave.

From left to right, Karin, Suigetsu, who now had his sword on him, and Jugo were running through the cave as they were looking for Sasuke. Before they entered the cave, Karin not only sensed Sasuke's chakra but Itachi's as well. However, Karin no longer sensed Itachi's chakra.

 _"I should've known. It was a shadow clone."_ Karin thought.

The 3 of them suddenly saw Sasuke, who had his Sharingan activated, standing a few meters away as he was looking up into the ceiling. Black feathers were falling from the ceiling.

"Sasuke!" Suigetsu yelled.

Sasuke looked behind himself on the left side to see Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin were running towards him.

"I thought I told you not to move until I gave the order." Sasuke said.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin stopped a few feet away from Sasuke.

"Karin sensed Itachi's chakra, we got worried so we thought we better come in." Suigetsu said.

Karin looked to see feathers falling. "Feathers." she said.

Sasuke turned around and walked away, stepping pass them. "Just follow me. Let's go." he said.

Karin walked after him as Jugo and Suigetsu followed behind them. When they made it out of the cave and into the forest again, they climbed into the trees as they started jumping from tree to tree. Sasuke began explaining that they were heading to the Uchiha clan's former hideout.

...

3 minutes later.

Karin started sensing Naruto's chakra in different areas. "I sense Oniisan's Multi-Shadow clones all over the place." she said. "We need to hurry."

"Shouldn't we change our coarse, Sasuke?" Suigetsu asked.

"Ignore it, we'll just forge ahead." Sasuke said.

"Good, the long away around would've been tiring." Suigetsu said.

 _"Against Oniisan I don't know."_ Karin thought then sensed Naruto's chakra up ahead. "Oniisan's nearby." she said.

A few seconds later, Hebi saw Naruto on a branch a few meters away from them before they saw him coming towards them.

Sasuke used Chidori with his left hand.

"Sasuke!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke hit Naruto, making Naruto disappear in a puff of smoke. Hebi continued from jumping to tree to tree.

"Great. Now Oniisan and the others know where we are, Sasuke." Karin said.

"Of course he does." Suigetsu said smiling.

"Naruto." Sasuke said. _"How annoying."_ he thought.

"We better hurry before they catch up to us." Karin said.

...

5 minutes later.

Hebi running on a grey building as there were some in the area. From left to right, Karin and Sasuke and behind them were Jugo and Suigetsu.

"I'm sensing a very familiar chakra up ahead and it's coming quickly." Karin said.

A man suddenly appeared, that had a large sword covered in bandages in his right hand, and landed on a grey cylinder object in front of them and started to spin. Hebi stopped running as they stood there. The man stopped spinning as he looked at Hebi. Karin recognized that it was that man, in his usual outfit, who was with Itachi that fought Kakashi, Asuma, and Kurenai 3 years ago.

 _"That guy. I remember him."_ Karin thought.

Suigetsu placed his right hand on his right hip. "I know you." he said.

"Only Sasuke alone may go beyond this point. Itachi's orders so that's how it's going to be. The rest of you are welcome to come wait right here with me." The man said.

 _"No way. I want revenge on Itachi as well."_ Karin thought.

Sasuke unactivated his Sharingan. "Alright fine. Besides, the only reason I've been traveling with a team is so nothing would get in the way of my reaching this destination. It's fine." he said.

Karin looked to the right side at Sasuke, serious. "I'm not standing here with these creep. I'm going inside as well." she said then stared back at the man.

"I have no intention or interest in fighting all of you, but if you insist on going with him, I'll show no mercy." The man said.

"Neither will I on you!" Karin said.

"Karin, you need to stay put. This-" Sasuke said but was cut off.

Karin turned to Sasuke. "Shut up! Like it or not, i'm going in there." she said.

Sasuke looked at Karin.

"And I see tension between them." The man said.

Sasuke sighed before he walked over to Karin, stopping next to her so none of them could hear their conversation. "I need to do this, Karin." he said.

"Sasuke, I also want to fight Itachi as well. He not only killed half of the Uchiha clan, he killed half of the Uzumaki clan and tried to kill me. I want to kill him for what he did and there's no way I'm standing here while you're going to fight him." Karin said.

"Don't worry, I'll avenge our 2 clans." Sasuke said.

"But I have chakra too, I can fight." Karin said.

"Please Karin, trust on this that I can defeat Itachi." Sasuke said.

Karin stared at Sasuke for a moment before she looked down. "Fine, but don't be reckless like Oniisan told me." she said.

"Thanks. I promise, I'll be back." Sasuke said.

Sasuke walked a little before he jumped past the man on his right side, disappearing moments later.

Suigetsu started to smile at the man. "Kisame Hoshigaki and his sword, Samehada. Sharks skin." he said.

Kisame looked confused at Suigetsu.

"Why do forget me?" Suigetsu asked. "I'm Suigetsu Hōzuki, the younger brother of Mangetsu."

Kisame smiled. "Oh, I didn't even recognize you. My you certainly have grown, Suigetsu." he said.

"It would be boring just to wait around for Sasuke don't you think?" Suigetsu questioned. "So what do you say we play around and have ourselves a little fun huh? Kisame-sama." grabbing his sword with his right hand.

"Unlike your brother, you're quite impetuous aren't you Suigetsu?" Kisame questioned, holding his sword in front of him. "So maybe I should cut you down to size?"

Jugo looked at Suigetsu. "Listen, shouldn't we just obey Sasuke's orders?" he asked.

Karin looked at Jugo. _"Don't be stupid you blockhead. You're such a dunce."_ she thought, turning forward.

...

10 minutes later.

Kisame and Suigetsu were battling each other as Jugo and Karin were watching them a few meters away.

Suigetsu swung his sword at Kisame with both hands, who blocked it with his sword. They yelled before they smirked at each other as their swords were together.

"Seems you're more proficient with the blade than that kid was." Kisame said.

"Kid?" Suigetsu questioned.

Kisame and Suigetsu pulled away.

"You mean Master Zabuza." Suigetsu said, holding his sword with his left hand before he swung around with both hands as it was now in his right hand.

"My broadsword, Samehada was never intended for this kind of thing, you know." Kisame said, holding up his sword with both hands. "It's not for dueling." smashing it into the roof, creating some dust and craters.

"Same here. This one's for killing!" Suigetsu said, swinging his sword at Kisame, who dodged it, with both hands before he took his left hand off of it, causing rocks and more dust to go into the air.

"Tch, and this is what he calls fun?" Karin questioned. "As if, they're both dead serious." she turned to Jugo, who was interacting with birds. "Hey, Jugo! Would you just tell them that-" but was cut off when Jugo looked at her.

"It'll be alright. All the birds are telling me that there's no one nearby who will come to interfere with their fighting." Jugo said.

 _"I should've just went with Sasuke instead of staying out here."_ Karin thought, looking up at the sky. _"Damn it. What if something happens to Sasuke while these idiots are playing their little game?"_ turning around. _"And Oniisan and the others are still coming after us. Wait! Oniisan and the others movements have stopped?! And by an unknown?! This chakra is familiar for some reason."_

...

6 minutes later.

Kisame smashed his sword on to the roof again with both hands, causing more dust and craters to appear, before he swung it at Suigetsu with his right hand.

Suigetsu dodged Kisame's attack before he held his sword up with both hands. _"This guy packs way more power into his blade than I do. Alright then."_ he thought before he ran towards Kisame.

"Your sword plays 1 note, I'll take back what I said about you being better than Zabuza." Kisame said, raising his sword with both hands, ready to attack Suigetsu.

Suigetsu smirked before Kisame hit him, causing him to turn water, making Kisame confused.

Suigetsu turned back to his original form. "Eat this!" he said, swinging his sword at Kisame with both hands.

Kisame dodged the attack before he deflected the second attack with his sword in his right hand.

Suigetsu held his sword down with both hands, smiling. "Ah too bad I almost got you there, didn't I." he said.

Kisame smirked, putting his sword on his right shoulder with his right hand. "Why are you so excited?" he asked. "Haven't you realized yet that it's snack time for me?"

Suigetsu stopped smiling. "Snack time?" he asked before he became surprised. _"My chakra. But how? I haven't used up that much yet."_ he thought.

"My Samehada here grinds up and absorbs chakra. I thought for sure you would've noticed it before now." Kisame said. "Tell me, would you care for another taste?"

Suigetsu became serious. "Why you." he said.

 _"Please don't die, Sasuke. You promised me that you wouldn't."_ Karin thought, still looking up into the sky.

...

1 hour and 30 minutes later.

The clouds have formed as they sky was now grey as it was about to rain.

Kisame and Suigetsu were about to attack again until someone unknown said something.

"Enough, quit waisting time." a male voice said.

Someone appeared from the roof beside Kisame on the left side. It had a green Venus fly trap like extension, it opened up to reveal to be an artificial human male, the right side of it was white and the left side was black, had light green hair, yellow pupils less eyes, wearing no shirt, blue pants, white bandages around his lower legs, and blue sandals.

"Who the hell is this?" Suigetsu asked, looking at the unknown man.

"Zetsu." Kisame said turning towards him, looking at the unknown man, putting his sword back on his harness with his right hand.

"We're not just waisting time." Suigetsu said, putting his sword behind him on his scraps with his right hand.

"So. It's all over then is it?" Kisame asked.

"Yes, it's finally settled." The White Zetsu said.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin gasped before Jugo and Karin jumped and ran over to them. When Jugo and Karin made it to them, they stopped on the right side of Suigetsu.

"How's Sasuke?" Karin asked, worried about her boyfriend.

Zetsu looked at Karin. "He's fine. Sasuke won the battle." the white Zetsu said.

Jugo, Suigetsu, Karin closed their eyes as they sighed for a moment before they opened them again.

"So, where's Sasuke now?" Karin asked.

"He's already been evacuated to a safe place." the Black Zetsu said.

"What kind of safe place?" Karin asked.

"He's been takened to the Akatsuki's Hideout in the East. All of you should head there, too. The Hidden Leaf will arrive here very shortly I'm sure." the Black Zetsu said.

Jugo looked at Suigetsu and Karin. "Let's go, we need to get to Sasuke." he said.

Suigetsu and Karin looked at Jugo.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin ran away.

 _"Finally, he's dead and half of the Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan have been avenged."_ Karin thought, feeling a little happy inside and slightly sad. _"But what will happen to us now?"_

* * *

End of Chapter 15.

Please Review.

No Flames.


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16.

Please Review.

No Flames.

* * *

A few weeks later.

Day Time.

Beach.

Sunset.

From left to right, Jugo, who was standing on the grass, Suigetsu, who was sitting on a large grey rock and his arms were folded, Sasuke, who was standing on a large grey rock, and Karin, who was leaning against a large rock and had her pouch wrapped around her waist, in their usual outfits, were looking at the sunset. Sasuke changed a little bit as his bangs covered his forehead and was in his new usual outfit, a zippered, high-collared, short-sleeved grey shirt, black wrist warmers, long dark blue pants, blue cloth that covers from his stomach to his knees, a purple rope belt securing the cloth, a small beige pouch behind him on his cloth, black sword behind him on the rope belt, and long grey sandals that reached his lower legs.

A man named Tobi 'Madara', having spiky black hair, his fully matured Sharingan activated, wearing his usual outfit, an orange mask spiral pattern focused on his right eye, a long-sleeve black top that covered his neck and chin, black gloves, long black pants, a long green scarf and standard sandals and white stirrups, Akatsuki cloak: a long high collared black jacket with red clouds on it, a thick black belt with armour-like metal plates attached to it, and similar plates on his upper arms, and blue nail polish on his fingers and toes, was sitting down on the ground a few meters behind them with his left arm resting on his left knee, was looking at Sasuke.

After Team Hebi regrouped from Sasuke fighting and killing Itachi and was again separated for awhile after Sasuke went alone to Hollowing Wolf Village for eye drops. Sasuke told them everything that happened.

Karin started thinking after Sasuke told her what Tobi told him about the himself, how Konohagakure was founded, how Itachi died, the history and the mistreatment of the Uchiha clan, the war between the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan, the Uzumaki clan's mistreatment, how Itachi received an assignment to kill half of the Uchiha clan and the Uzumaki clan by the Hidden Leaf elders, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, and Roots leader, Danzō, and how it could start the Fourth Great Ninja War. At first, Karin didn't believe it but started thinking about all the times her Aunt Kushina, her Uncle Minato, and the entire Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan were acting suspicious. She easily sensed that Tobi was that unknown chakra from that night. It made her feel betrayed and angry that the people she cared and trusted kept it from her.

 _"I can't believe they hid this from me for long... especially Sasuke.."_ Karin thought then looked over at Sasuke. _"I wonder what he's thinking right now."_

Sasuke continued looking at the sunset and started thinking about what Tobi said to him earlier.

...

 _Flashback._

 _"For the peace in of Konohagakure and most of all for you, Sasuke Uchiha. He wanted to die being known as a criminal and a traitor, he accepted disgrace in the place of honor and hatred in the place of love, and yet Itachi still died with a smile on his face. He bequeath to you the Uchiha name, still fooling you to the very end."_

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

The wind blew in Hebi and Tobi's face as Sasuke remembered some memories of him and Itachi before he killed half the Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan before he closed his eyes and cried, tears running down his face, making his hands into fists.

 _"Sasuke..."_ Karin thought before turning forward to look at the sunset.

Sasuke stopped crying as a few moments past. A brown hawk screeched as it flew in the sky.

"We are no longer the 'Hebi' from this day on our team will be the 'Taka'... And Taka has but one goal, our mission..." Sasuke said then opened his eyes to reveal his Mangekyo Sharingan, it was black and had 3 red intersecting ellipses on each one, and one small black dot on each of them. "Is to destroy the Hidden Leaf."

Karin's eyes widened and looked at Sasuke, shocked at what he just said about destroying Konoha.

* * *

Night Time.

Mountains' Graveyard.

Outside.

Karin was sitting on grass that was on the edge of the Akatsuki's Secret Hideout that was a few meters below had bones, dirt, rocks, and tunnels. She was looking up at the full moon in the star lit sky as her hands were resting on her lap. Jugo and Suigetsu were inside one of the rooms in one of the tunnels. She sensed a few chakras in the hideout like the Zetsus and Kisame.

 _"I can't believe Sasuke wants to destroy Konoha because of Itachi. But on the other hand, they lied us this entire time. That's still no excuse for killing them."_ Karin thought then looked down as she saw Sasuke sitting on the bones with his charcoal black eyes back to normal as he was looking up at the moon as well. _"Is that really what you want, Sasuke...?"_

Karin suddenly sensed Tobi's chakra coming from one of the tunnels before she saw Tobi was walking towards Sasuke. _"What is he up to?"_ she thought suspiciously.

"What are you doing? The preparations are already completed." Tobi asked then stopped a few meters away from Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked a little. "When I look upon the full moon, it takes me back to that night... Memories I've been trying so hard to forget.. I can finally recall things about Itachi..." he said, not smirking anymore. "Faint memories that were buried deep in my heart are now floating back up to the surface."

...

 _Flashback._

 _8 years ago._

 _Night Time._

 _Forest near the Uzumaki clan._

 _Itachi, 12 years old and in his Anbu Black Ops outfit, had his Sharingan activated as he was facing Sasuke, 8 years old and in his usual outfit and was a little dirty, who was standing a few feet away from him. Sasuke left Karin awhile ago to face his older brother._

 _Sasuke was panting exhaustion._

 _"By all means flee. Cling to your retched life.." Itachi said then turned around but still looked at Sasuke on his left side, activating his Mangekyo Sharingan. "And when you possess the same eyes, come back and face me."_

 _Sasuke stopped panting and his eyes widened before he stopped widenering his eyes and started to fall forward but stopped himself by kneeling on the ground on his right knee. Sasuke made his hands into fists and closed his eyes, panting a little before he opened his eyes, activating his Sharingan for the first time but each has 1 tomoe in each of them, making a serious face._

 _Itachi and Sasuke stared at each other for a moment before Itachi turned forward and jumped away._

 _"No wait!" Sasuke said, getting up and running after him._

 _Itachi still continued to jump away in the forest, Sasuke grabbed some kunais from the ground with both hands before he jumped after Itachi, who landed on the ground, and threw them at him._

 _Itachi looked back before he grabbed his sword with his right hand and deflected the kunais but one struck him on his Forehead Protector, causing it to fall off of his head and onto the ground. Sasuke landed on the ground and started panting again, clutching his left arm with his right hand, watching as Itachi walked over to his Forehead Protector and picked it up with his right hand and put it back on a different way before he placed his sword back in his holster and looked over at him sadly, tears falling out of his eyes._

 _After a few moments, Itachi jumped and disappeared into the air. Sasuke crouched down on the ground for awhile before he thought of someone._

 _"Oh no, Karin...!" Sasuke thought before he slowly stood up and went to find Karin._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

"I saw him crying then... I thought I'd imagined it.. I didn't realize it." Sasuke said. "... It seems that what you've told me is the truth after all."

"So what about Itachi's eyes? You're going to transplant them?" Tobi said.

Sasuke looked down at Tobi. "No, I won't. What Itachi wanted me to see and what I will see from here on out will be completely different. I can't do what Itachi wish me to.. I will restore the Uchiha clan in my own way." he said then looked up at Karin. _"And also, help restore the Uzumaki clan for Karin."_

 _..._

1 hour later.

Inside of the Akatsuki's Hideout.

Meeting Room.

Team Taka, Tobi, and Kisame, in his usual outfit, were standing near a large rectangular grey table. From left to right, Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo were standing on the left side of it while from right to left, Tobi and Kisame were standing on the right side. Sasuke sat down in a chair in the middle with his arms on the arm rests, Karin had her right hand on her right hip, and Suigetsu had his arms folded.

Kisame smiled. _"So, Itachi's out."_ he thought then looked at Sasuke. _"And his little brother joins up, what an interesting turn of events."_

"We the Taka, will destroy the Leaf." Sasuke said.

Karin looked down at Sasuke.

Tobi sat down on the table and looked at Sasuke. "Easier said than done. So how? What's your plan?" he asked.

"We're going to kill the elders. The others are of no concern to me." Sasuke said.

Karin took her right hand off of her right hip. _"I can't believe you're lying to me..."_ she thought.

"If you aim high the ones below will shield them. It's not going to be as easy as you seem to think. And you 4 Taka don't have the strength to handle this kind of thing by yourselves." Kisame said.

Tobi got off the table and stood up on the floor again as Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin looked at Kisame.

Suigetsu smirked. "Tch. Listen Kisame, you really shouldn't make the mistake of underestimating us." he said, placing his right hand on his right hip. "We still haven't settled that little game of ours we started the other day... So let me show you my real-" but was cut off.

Jugo and Karin looked at Suigetsu.

"Stop it! Enough Suigetsu!" Jugo yelled.

Suigetsu lowered his head as he placed his left fist near his chin before he lifted his head up and pulled out his sword from his scrap with his right hand and pulled out the handle from his left pocket with his left hand and connected them together before he jumped on to the table held his sword with both hands and slid on it towards Kisame to attack him but Tobi quickly stepped in front of Kisame and blocked Suigetsu's sword with his left fist.

Suigetsu became shocked.

Tobi looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke, you haven't trained him very well." he said.

 _"This guy's impressive."_ Karin thought amazed, looking at Tobi.

 _"He stopped me with just his arm."_ Suigetsu thought.

Sasuke didn't say anything as he continued to watch.

Karin looked at Suigetsu annoyed, putting her right hand on her glasses. "Suigetsu, are you that stupid?!" she asked yelling. "This isn't the time or place-!" but was cut off.

Suigetsu looked at Karin, annoyed. "My objective is that sword of his, Samehada! I've been traveling with Sasuke only so I can get my hands on that thing!"

Karin took her right hand off of her glasses as she, Jugo, and Suigetsu looked at Sasuke.

"Alright, Sasuke. What now?" Jugo asked.

Sasuke raised his left hand, looking at Suigetsu. "Fine by me. Do whatever you feel you have to, Suigetsu." he said then lowered his left hand on the desk. "But know this, you cannot win against him yet."

Kisame laughed a little bit. _"Yet huh."_ he thought.

Suigetsu smirked at Sasuke. "Gee, thanks a lot for the vote of confidence, Sasuke. Have a little faith, I'll treat you to some tasty shark's fin." he said then looked back at Kisame.

Tobi removed and lowered his left hand from Suigetsu's sword, who lowered his sword.

"The Akatsuki is low on man power right now. We should avoid unnecessary scurmishes." Tobi said.

Taka looked at Tobi.

Suigetsu held his sword up with his right hand. "Uh, the pot shouldn't be calling the kettle black, ya know." he said.

Tobi looked down at Sasuke. "We share common interests, so for here on Taka will work together with the Akatsuki." he said.

"Oh is that right? And just what's in it for us?" Sasuke questioned.

"A tailed beast." Tobi said.

Karin became serious. _"Oniisan."_ she thought.

"Tailed beast?" Sasuke asked.

"You don't know about them?" Tobi asked.

Karin placed her right hand on her right hip. "Of course we do and we know one." she said.

Suigetsu looked at Karin confused. "We do?" he asked. "Who is it?" but stopped talking when Sasuke raised his right hand up for a moment to silence him.

Taka looked Tobi again.

"So what is that mean?" Sasuke asked.

"They're chakra monsters, long ago the first Hokage collected several of them and kept them under his control. Each time a Great Ninja War threatened, he used them to maintain the power balance, distributing them to other lands. Starting with the 5 Great Nations as proof of alliances... You could call them the ultimate chakra weapons." Tobi said.

Karin folded her arms as she was a little angry at Tobi for technically called Naruto 'a chakra monster' and 'chakra weapon'.

"Not a bad propession is it?" Tobi asked.

"How generous of you." Sasuke said sarcastically.

"However, if you betrayed the Akatsuki, you will die." Tobi said.

Sasuke smirked at Tobi.

"There are 9 of the Tailed In this world and the Akatsuki has collected 6 of them so far, only 3 remain." Kisame said.

Karin's eyes widened a little bit. _"But.. that means Oniisan's in trouble...!"_ she thought.

"Taka and the Akatsuki will split up to hunt the last 3. That is our immediate goal." Tobi said.

Sasuke made a serious face. "You don't have the 9 Tails yet do you?" he asked.

"Taka will capture 8 Tails, the Akatsuki will hunt the others. That means Naruto." Tobi said.

Karin unfolded her arms as she turned to the left and walked away towards the exit. Everyone watched as Karin left the room. She walked through some of the hallways until she made it outside where she was previously waiting at.

Karin took a few steps before she stopped and looked up at the star lit night sky. _"I don't know if I can do this... Uncle Minato and the others may have kept things from me... but destroying the Hidden Leaf Village because of what the elders did... I can't lose Oniisan, he's one of the only family members I have left.."_ she thought.

As Karin continued thinking, she suddenly snapped out of her thoughts when she sensed Sasuke coming towards her location.

Karin sighed, looking down at the ground. _"What does he want?"_ she thought.

When Sasuke came out of one of the tunnels, he walked over to Karin. "Karin, what's the matter?" he asked, stopping near her.

Karin looked up at Sasuke. "I know you were lying in there about only killing the elders. You want to destroy Konoha." she said.

"Karin I-" Sasuke said but was cut off.

"You want to destroy our Village including our clans?" Karin questioned. "That's our family."

"I'm not going to kill our clans especially not our families." Sasuke said.

"Then, what about Oniisan? He's has the 9 Tails trapped inside of him and sooner or later they're going to after him." Karin questioned then looked down. "... I've lost my father, my mother, half my clan and half your clan, I don't want to lose anyone else." closing her eyes.

Sasuke stepped closer to Karin and stopped in front of her before he wrapped his arms around her as he hugged her, making Karin opened her eyes.

"I know you don't want to lose anyone else but there's probably a different way that he can live." Sasuke said.

"You're just saying that." Karin said, pulling away to look up at Sasuke

"No, I'm not. You can sense that." Sasuke said, looking down at his girlfriend. "I know." then leaned in and kissed Karin on the lips before he pulled back and looked at her again.

"I hope you're right, Sasuke." Karin said then hugged Sasuke. _"I can't go back to the Village yet and I have to stay with Sasuke just in case something happens."_ she thought.

* * *

2 days later.

Day Time.

Kumogakure.

Team Taka, who were now wearing Akatsuki cloaks with their usual outfits, were in a rocky place near a gate as they were interrogating Kiyoi Yotsuki, a Kumogakure ninja, a man that is 30 years old, light brown skin, black eyes, brown hair, in his usual outfit the Kumogakure flak jacket uniform, a long sleeved zipped up high collared black shirt, long black pants, white Kumogakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, black strap on the right side of his head, white Kumogakure shin guards that have red stripes going horizontal, black sandals and white Kumogakure flak jacket that has one strap on the left side. Suigetsu punched Kiyoi into the metal fence with his right fist, making Kiyoi grunt in pain as he closed his left eye and opened it again when Suigetsu stepped closer to him.

Suigetsu used his Hydrification Technique on his right arm to slip through the fence to grab Kiyoi by the neck.

"So, where is this 8 Tails guy?" Suigetsu asked, smirking.

Kiyoi looked at Suigetsu. "Ah, you don't know who you're messin' with." he said.

Suigetsu strangled Kiyoi even more, making Kiyoi grunt in pain and close his right eye.

"We're not going say anything, not to the likes of you!" Kiyoi said. "We of the Yotsuki clan are much stronger than that. We don't betray one of our own. Never!"

"A fearful heart is more likely to crack." Sasuke said, his eyes closed as he walked forward.

Suigetsu and Kiyoi looked at Sasuke, who stopped a few meters away from them. Sasuke opened his right eye as he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan for a moment, causing Kiyoi's eyes to widened as Sasuke placed him under a Genjutsu. Kiyoi's eyes were now half way opened.

A few meters behind them, Karin stood on the left side of Sasuke and Jugo stood on the right side of Sasuke.

Karin held her right hand to her chest. "Suigetsu enough. He's under Sasuke's Genjutsu now." she said.

"Ah, I was just getting to the fun part." Suigetsu said before he used his Hydrification Technique to slip out of the fence and unwrapped his right arm from around Kiyoi's neck and stepped aside.

Kiyoi landed on his knees.

Sasuke stepped forward a little bit as he looked down at Kiyoi, his eyes now charcoal black again. "Give me the location of the 8 Tails." he said.

"He's busy training.. at the Valley of Clouds and Lightning.. Storm Cloud Revenue.." Kiyoi said.

"And what does he look like?" Sasuke asked.

"He's the wielder of many blades.. 8 blades.. he has steel tattooed on his right shoulder and and bull horns on his left cheek." Kiyoi said then closed his eyes as he fell down on his stomach, unconscious.

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment before he opened them again and turned around and walked away, grabbing his Akatsuki cloak with his right hand. Jugo, who was now on the left side of Sasuke, Karin, who was now on the right side of Sasuke, and Suigetsu, who was on the back, were walking after Sasuke. Karin grabbed her Akatsuki cloak with her right hand.

 _"That's just great. Those eyes of his have improved, all that's gonna do is make him even more difficult to deal with."_ Suigetsu thought, annoyed.

Karin smiled at Sasuke, blushing a little. _"Oh wow, even though Sasuke activated his Mangekyo Sharingan recently, he's really getting the hang of it."_ she thought.

Jugo looked to the left side. _"It's nice here, I think I'll able to keep myself under control. I feel so calm."_ he thought.

...

1 hour later.

Valley of Clouds and Lightning.

As Taka were now in a water-filled rocky valley that was covered in fog, they were on a large circular light brown rock near stairs. Team Taka were spread out, Jugo was on the left, Suigetsu was on the right, Sasuke was in the middle, and Karin was behind Sasuke. Before they got there, Sasuke told Karin not to get involved with the fight for some reason but she obeyed him.

Moments later, a man jumped from the stairs and was now a few meters away from Taka. The man was 36 years old, had brown skin, muscular, shoulder length blonde hair that was combed back, blonde goatee, dark green eyes, a blue tattoo of the kanji for "iron" (鉄, _tetsu_ ), has a blue tattoo of a bull's horn on his left cheek, his top lip also has a slightly darker hue than his bottom one, in his usual outfit, black oval shaped sunglasses that had no arms, a white Kumogakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, white Kumogakure flak jacket, a long red rope belt tied around his waist, Kumogakure hand and shin guards, black sandals, a white scarf around his neck, long black pants, and carrying seven red and yellow swords on his back, had his arms folded as he looked at Team Taka.

"Are you the Jinchūriki host of the 8 Tails?" Sasuke asked.

"That's 8 Tails-sama to you." the man said then pointed his right index finger at Sasuke. "No wait, you say 'Are you Jinchūriki-sama?', got it?"

"I'm here to capture you." Sasuke said.

"Uh uh, now here's what you say 'Freeze, let me capture you sama, please!' You got it?" the man asked, moving his arms around.

"Suigetsu, take the right." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu moved to the right side and stopped.

"Jugo, take the left." Sasuke said.

Jugo moved to the left side and stopped.

"Karin, behind me. Cover my back." Sasuke said.

And Karin moved behind Sasuke then stopped.

The man folded his arms. "Let's see now." he said.

Suigetsu pulled his sword out from its scrap with his right hand and pulled the handle out of his left pocket and connected them together as ran he towards the man while carrying his sword with both hands to attack him.

"I'm in the mist of my rhymes, y'all are bustin' my time, now I gotta spit my line. Fools, ya fools!" the man said.

Suigetsu jumped up as he swung his sword at the man with both hands. Sasuke moved to the right side a little.

When Suigetsu landed on the ground near the man, he attacked him with his sword but the man held the sword with both of his hands as a crater covered the ground below them and puffs of dirt appeared.

"We're not supposed to kill the Jinchūriki, ya know. Remember what the Akatsuki told us, Suigetsu?" Jugo asked.

"Don't worry, feel his chakra loud and clear." Karin said.

Sasuke moved a little from crater.

"Damn it. Talk about a showy diversion." Karin said.

As the dirt cloud was disappearing, the man was still holding onto the end of Suigetsu's sword with both hands. The man pushed Suigetsu away a little.

Suigetsu grunted. "Come on." he said.

The man smiled. "Only one who gets to dig me is me, yo." he said. "So stand back and stay back or ya gonna get wacked. Fool! Yeah!"

The man tossed Suigetsu's sword into the air and the sword landed on the ground beside him on his left side.

"Just step back Suigetsu." Jugo said, walking forward a little.

Suigetsu jumped backwards a few feet.

The man grabbed Suigetsu's sword from the ground with his left hand and picked it up then lifted it with both hands so he can look out the hole in the top at Taka. "I am peeking at you, see ya not quite through but with all your crew your brain cells are few." he said.

"Stop joking around!" Jugo said, running over to the man.

The man put the top hole of Executioner's Blade around his neck with both hands. "Bloodlust bravery makes me go ballistic." he said then swung the sword around his neck, releasing the sword. "Knowing you can't stop me makes me optimistic, my blades goin' round and next you're goin' down."

When Jugo made it towards the man, he tried to punch him with his right fist but closed his eyes in pain when he was hit in the face by the handle of the Executioner's Blade, moving to the right side.

"Come on and get your feel of my sweet and awesome skills, yeah!"' the man said.

Jugo stopped as he looked at the man before the left side of his face turned grey, his left eye turned yellow and black, and his left arm turned grey as it turned large and many spikes appeared.

Jugo yelled as he grabbed the Executioner's Blade handle with his right hand and took the sword off of the man's neck before he tried to attack him again with his left hand.

Karin raised her arms to her chest as she, Sasuke, and Suigetsu watched as the man hit Jugo in the face with his right fist, making Jugo cough up a little blood from his mouth and closed his eyes before he fell to the ground, releasing the sword from his right hand as it pierced the ground again. A dirt cloud appeared and soon disappeared.

The man leaned on the sword with his right elbow.

Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin continued to look at the man.

The man stopped leaning on the sword with his right elbow, smirking as he raised his left thumb, index, and middle fingers. "My powers are flash and still more in my stash. 8 Tails that be me the rappin' Killer B, yeah." he said then raised his hands. "This battle you intitated but I'll leave you humiliated, so before you get designated, ow! ... Bit my tongue."

"What...? What's up with this guy? He's completely crazy but he still managed to take down Jugo." Karin questioned.

 _"First he blocks my Executioner's Blade then he wields it like he owns it. What is this guy?"_ Suigetsu thought.

"You made me bite my tongue, fools." Killer B said.

Jugo grunted in pain and slowly lifted himself as he untransformed the left side of him, his left eye opened.

Killer B grabbed Jugo with his right hand and lifted him up and tossed Jugo near Sasuke.

"You alright?" Karin asked, looking down at Jugo, who had his eyes closed.

"Yeah..." Jugo said.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"I'll handle this." Sasuke said then walked forward.

Jugo stood up as he held his left arm with his right hand.

Killer B moved a little bit.

Sasuke closed his eyes as he continued to walk forward then stopped a few meters away, opening his eyes again.

"Just who in the hell are all y'all, fools ya fools?" Killer B asked, moving his left hand.

"Would you shut up already, you're getting on my nerves." Suigetsu said, annoyed.

Killer B lowered his left hand as he pointed his right index finger at Taka. "Yo! Who are you? Why ya wanna capture me? What's the deal yo?" he asked, pointing his right thumb at himself.

"I'm under no obligation to tell you." Sasuke said.

"Why do we have to fight such a weird rhyming guy in the first place anyway? This whole thing is a pain." Suigetsu questioned.

"It's to obtain more power as quickly as possible. If you don't like it leave." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu smirked. "Tch." he said then stopped smirking. _"That's your purgative."_ he thought.

"And I also want to confirm the Akatsuki's promise. Whether they're pledge to give us the Tailed Beasts is true." Sasuke said, taking out his sword from his right cloak sleeve and held it with his right hand. "Regardless, we're the ones who are going to use the Akatsuki, not the other way around. So all of you keep that in mind."

 _"Akatsuki?"_ Killer B thought.

Suigetsu smirked.

"Yes, of course." Jugo said.

 _"At least he didn't turn into their errand boy because they told him the truth."_ Karin thought.

"Okay, let's do this and shut up this witless pain in the ear." Suigetsu said.

"That is the plan." Sasuke said.

"Check it. I'm not witless yo, I got super rhymes and charmin' fool!" Killer B said, moving his arms around.

Karin closed her eyes as she became annoyed at Killer B. "Oh, what a joke." she said, opening her eyes as she fixed her glasses with her left hand. "And not to mention that he's absolutely 0 rapping talent!" raising her right fist.

"Hold up fool, no need to be cruel!" Killer B said, moving his arms around again.

"Be quiet!" Karin yelled.

Sasuke quickly ran towards Killer B, making Killer B focus on him. Karin put her arms down as she, Jugo, and Suigetsu watched as Sasuke made towards Killer B and jumped up into the air and tried to attack him with his sword but Killer B grabbed the Executioner's Blade from the ground with his right hand and blocked Sasuke from attacking him with his sword. Sasuke flew backwards into the air as Killer B spun around as h swung the Executioner's Blade around. Sasuke landed on the ground and held his sword with both hands and turned to the right side as he defended himself against the Executioner's Blade, Killer B pushed Sasuke away with the sword. Sasuke released his right hand from his sword before he jumped into the air and spun around as Killer B continued to swing the Executioner's Blade around.

Sasuke stuck his sword into the top hole of the Executioner's Blade, making Killer B stop, and kicked Killer B in the chest with his right leg. Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin thought that Sasuke defeated Killer B.

A few moments later, Killer B dropped the Executioner's Blade. When Killer B moved his right hand, Sasuke backed away and stood on the ground with his sword still in his left hand, only to see Killer B looking down and holding a small green book with his left hand and a dark green pencil in his right hand.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin looked confused and annoyed at Killer B writing something down. Sasuke lifted his left foot up a little bit and lifted up his arm so he can toss the Executioner's Blade to Suigetsu with his sword, who grabbed it with his right hand. Sasuke lowered his left hand and left foot as he watched as Killer B continued to write down something.

When Killer B was finished he dotted the end of the pencil on his tongue before he closed his notebook with his right hand then looked at Team Taka, smirking.

Killer B raised his right hand. "I'm feelin' hell of fine, I just wrote the baddest rhymes. Thank you." he said. He put his pencil and notebook back in his pockets before he placed his placed his hands one of his swords. "Now I'll play with you tools, you tinsy winsy baby fools." then he quickly pulled out all of his 7 swords with both hands and tossed them in the air.

"Watch out, Sasuke! This guy's clearly used to handling blades! He's no ordinary ninja!" Suigetsu yelled.

The swords landed on Killer B's right shoulder, his mouth, on his right knee, left armpit, right elbow, chest, and left elbow.

Team Taka looked confused at Killer B's weird pose. Sasuke placed his sword in his right hand with his left hand.

"Hahaha. Quickly take a look cause now I'll give you a taste of my hook." Killer B said.

Wind blew it their faces.

"What?" Karin asked.

"The hell? What's that stance?" Suigetsu questioned.

Moments later, Killer B jumped up into the air and started spinning towards Sasuke as Sasuke made a serious face and quickly activated his Sharingan. When Killer B made it to Sasuke, he started to attack him. Sasuke raised his sword as he defended himself against the multiple attacks of Killer B's swords and dodged the ones he couldn't defend. Sasuke tried to attack Killer B but Killer B tossed some of his swords into the air and placed his back on the ground as he tossed Sasuke into the air with his feet. Killer B quickly stood up on the ground and placed some of his swords on himself again and jumped after Sasuke while spinning. As Sasuke was still in the air, he started defending himself from multiple attacks with his sword in his right hand. When Sasuke landed on the ground he dodged 3 swords by moving to the right and continued moving when Killer B landed on the ground then followed after him when he collected the 3 swords. Sasuke defended himself with his sword again from multiple attacks by Killer B. Within a matter of seconds, Killer B cut Sasuke's right arm with one of his swords then his collar and the right side of his face. As Killer B and Sasuke continued fighting, Killer B jumped up into the air. When Sasuke tried to study Killer B's movements with his Sharingan but couldn't because Killer B switched from a different line of attack. Sasuke looked at Killer B as he stomped on the ground with his left foot. Killer B and Sasuke clashed their swords together until Sasuke suddenly released his sword when Killer flung him backwards a few meters on the ground.

Sasuke grunted when he landed on the ground as his sword pierced the ground a few feet forward from him.

Karin placed her right fist near her chest. "Sasuke, are you alright?!" she asked, worried.

"What is up with those moves of his?" Suigetsu asked. "I can't predict his line of attack."

Sasuke got up as he crouched down on his left knee, he groaned before he made the hand signs for Chidori and grabbed his left hand with his right hand as white lightning came from his left hand.

Suigetsu looked at Sasuke and his sword. _"The Chidori Blade... He's gonna use something that's impossible to defend against.."_ he thought.

As Sasuke made his Chidori with his left hand, Killer B lowered his right arm a little bit. Sasuke stood up from the ground and released his left hand as he ran towards Killer B while he grabbed his sword with his left hand, streaming his Chidori through it. When Sasuke made it, he and Killer B clashed their swords together, but Taka immediately noticed that Killer B was straining his chakra through one of his 7 swords.

"No way! He blocked it!" Suigetsu said.

 _"He can strain his chakra, too."_ Karin thought.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin saw Killer B smirking.

Killer B raised his right hand up. "First I'm gonna float and fly like a butterfly." he said then raised his right leg and moved his sword that was clashing with Sasuke and struck 6 of his swords into Sasuke's torso and upper body. "And I'll sting you like a Killer Bee." holding a sword in his left hand.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin shocked at Sasuke being stabbed in the torso 6 times. Sasuke's eyes widened and released his sword and coughed up blood and fell to the ground a few feet away, closing his eyes as his sword landed next to him. Killer B landed on the ground and ran towards Sasuke.

"Sasuke!" Karin said.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin ran towards Sasuke as well.

Killer B jumped up into the air, spinning. "And then I'll end my flow with my killer blow!" he said, going towards Sasuke.

Sasuke opened his eyes and looked up to see Killer B was going to land near him and strike him with his remaining sword, he closed his eyes as he raised his right arm to block himself from Killer B's attack. When Sasuke heard metal clash, he opened his eyes and moved his right arm a little to see Suigetsu standing on the right side of him and was blocking Killer B's attack with his Executioner's Blade with both hands. Suigetsu was struggling to keep Killer B's attack from reaching Sasuke.

Killer B gripped his 7th sword with his left hand as he strained lightning release from his left hand and on to his sword, slowly slicing through the Executioner's Blade.

Suigetsu gritted his teeth and closed his right eye, feeling weak as the lightning went through his body and sword. _"He also uses Lightning Style, my weakness."_ he thought.

When Killer B was halfway slicing through the Executioner's Blade, Sasuke lowered his right arm and used Chidori with his left hand before he grabbed the Executioner's Blade with his left hand, causing him to stop Killer B from slicing more into the Executioner's Blade. As Killer B and Sasuke stopped using their lightning styles, Jugo, who activated his Sage Transformation on the right side of, was suddenly behind Killer B and punched him on the right side of his face with his right transformed fist.

Karin made it to Sasuke, she stopped running. "Hold on!" she said, grabbing Sasuke with both of her hands.

Suigetsu opened his eyes as he broke Killer B's remaining sword with his Executioner's Blade. When Karin dragged Sasuke away from them, Jugo transformed his right arm into holes as blasts of chakra came from them, making Killer B crash into the ground as a large explosion and crater appeared.

As Karin, who was crouching down, was pulling out the last sword out of Sasuke, who was laying down on his back,and with right hand and placed it on the ground. "Sasuke." she said looking down at Sasuke, who had his eyes closed and was panting. "This is not good." raising up her right sleeve with her left hand then she held up her right arm to Sasuke. "Here, quickly!"

Sasuke slowly lifted up the upper half of his body.

"Hurry up and bite me!" Karin said.

Sasuke opened up his right eye.

"Do it." Karin said.

Sasuke opened his mouth and bit down on Karin's right arm, making Karin moan a little as she used her Heal Bite Technique on him. Karin watched as Sasuke's wounds were disappearing.

Jugo and Suigetsu were standing in front of large rocks as Killer B was standing on the middle of the rocks.

Killer B looked over at Sasuke and Karin. _"He funneled the lightning style through his body and deflected my attack, that's how he avoided mortal injury. And that woman possesses the ability to heal others letting them suck her chakra."_ he thought.

When Sasuke was done healing he stopped biting Karin's right arm and Karin pulled her right sleeve down with her left hand then started panting, her hands on the ground.

"Thanks for that, Karin." Sasuke said then stopped up.

"Yeah, sure." Karin said, panting.

Sasuke walked over to where Jugo, Suigetsu, and Killer B were at.

"Sasuke. The 3 of us will take care of him." Suigetsu said, holding up his Executioner's Blade with both hands. "The fact is this guy's incredibly strong, so we better go at him as if we are tryin' to kill him, that might be our best chance of taking him while he's still alive."

Sasuke stopped walking when he was close.

"This battle's not over, gotta stop these fools." Killer B said, looking at Sasuke, Jugo, and Suigetsu. "Check it out, yo!"

When Killer B jumped off the rock, Jugo, Sasuke, and Suigetsu ran towards Killer B as Jugo started to use his chakra transformed right fist, Suigetsu used his Executioner's Blade with both hands, and Sasuke used Chidori with his left hand. When they made it towards him, Killer B dodged Suigetsu's Executioner's Blade by flipping backwards twice, Jugo's attack by jumping up on his back, Sasuke's Chidori twice by dodging and flipping him with his right foot, and Jugo's attack from above by moving out of the way as Jugo caused a crater.

Killer B ran up to Suigetsu, who had turned to him and his Executioner's Blade in his right hand, and punched him in the stomach with his right fist using his Disturbance Taijutsu but Suigetsu smiled as he used Hydrification Technique on his stomach to trap Killer B's right fist so he wouldn't move, parts of his strap falling off as some water spilled on Killer B.

"Gotcha." Suigetsu said then looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke, now! Just hit both of us!"

Sasuke ran up to Killer B and Suigetsu then used Chidori on Killer B with his left hand. "Chidori!" he yelled.

Killer B and Suigetsu screamed in pain at being shocked by Sasuke's Chidori then stopped when Sasuke pulled his left hand away as he stopped using his Chidori. Killer B kneeled down on his hands and Suigetsu was about to fall on the ground until Sasuke looked at him and grabbed his shoulders with both hands. As Killer B took his hands off of the ground as he tried to stand up, grunting in pain. Jugo jumped into the air, whose left hand had transformed, and used both of his fist to hit Killer B as Sasuke and Suigetsu moved out of the way, creating a crater as dust covered the air around them.

When the dust cleared, Jugo stood up and was suddenly confused to see that Killer B was gone.

"He's gone." Jugo said then looked around. "Where is he?"

Sasuke and Karin looked around while Suigetsu, who had his Executioner's Blade on the ground but wasn't in his right hand anymore, was crouching down on his hands and knees as a puddle on water was below him, panting. Jugo jumped out of the crater near them.

Sasuke looked at Karin. "Karin!" he said.

"I know." Karin said then closed her eyes as she held up her right index and middle fingers, sensing Killer B. A few seconds later, she opened her eyes and lowered her right hand then turned around and pointed her left index finger at one of the large rocks in the Valley. "He's over there!"

Sasuke walked over to Jugo, who untransformed his right hand and made his left hand larger and crouched down, and stood on his left palm then faced where Karin sensed Killer B. Chakra came out of the back of Jugo's left hand as he flung Sasuke over to the rock Killer B was at. When Sasuke was some of the way there, he saw Killer B, who had his back facing him, raising his left hand as orange chakra formed around him.

 _"Here it comes. It's just like... that day."_ Sasuke thought, remembering what Naruto transformed in the Forest of Death 3 years ago.

When Killer B turned around and quickly jumped after him, Sasuke activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and dodged Killer B, who was trying to punch him with his left fist, by flipping forward.

Killer B looked behind him. _"Oh, he's the first to dodge my 8 Tails form since my brother."_ Killer B thought.

Sasuke turned around and stood on the rock.

Killer B turned forward as he smirked, heading towards Jugo, Suigetsu, who was now standing up and had his Executioner's Blade in his right hand, and Karin.

"Damn! He's after them!" Sasuke said then jumped off the rock as he went after Killer B to stop him.

"Yo, I'll squash y'all flat split splat!" Killer B yelled, almost near them.

Jugo, who made his left hand smaller, turned around grabbed Suigetsu's waist with his left arm and Karin's waist with his right arm then transformed his back into Jet Booster Jump from under his cloak and jumped away from the rock before Killer B came and destroyed it, creating a large cloud of dust and rocks flew everywhere. As Jugo was getting away from the rock, Suigetsu was suddenly knocked out of Suigetsu's left arm by a rock, falling into the water as Jugo turned around as Karin fell on him.

A few seconds later after the rocks stopped falling, Sasuke on the ground a few feet from Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin, transforming his Mangekyo Sharingan back into the Sharingan.

"You alright?" Sasuke asked his girlfriend.

Jugo and Karin looked at Sasuke.

"I think, more or less." Karin said.

Suigetsu's head popped out of the water as he liquified in the water, holding his sword up so it wouldn't sink.

Sasuke looked up where Killer B landed, dust still in the air.

"He definitely has speed and power, but he only moves in a linear fashion. So with my eyes I should be able to see him coming." Sasuke said to himself then looked over at Karin. "Karin, I need you to read his chakra and anticipate his moves for me now! Stay on him and keep relaying his location to us at all times, you understand?!"

When an explosion came from the dust, Sasusaku looked up to see Killer B came out of the dust and was heading towards him.

"If you really think you can keep up!" Killer B yelled.

Jugo and Karin watched as Killer B was going towards Sasuke.

"No! Look out!" Karin yelled.

Sasuke activated his Mangekyo Sharingan again and placed Killer B in a Genjutsu. Killer B fell to the ground on the right side of Sasuke, not moving but the orange chakra around him was.

Karin's eyes widened before she closed her eyes and looked, sighing in relief.

Sasuke panted before he places his right hand over his right eye then turned around and looked down at Killer B only to see that Killer B snapped out of the Genjutsu and was now charging at him, making Sasuke take his right hand off of his right eye..

"Lariat!" Killer B yelled, using his left arm to slice off of Sasuke's upper half.

Sasuke closed his eyes and he fell backwards as his neck, chest, and his organs beneath have been ruptured.

Karin looked up and opened her eyes as her, Jugo, and Suigetsu's eyes widened at what just happened.

"Wheeee!" Killer B said, raising his left hand.

Jugo and Karin stood up.

"Sasuke!" Karin yelled.

Jugo ran over to Sasuke and jumped up into the air and grabbed him with both arms before he landed on the ground and placed him on it, now crouching down on the left side of Sasuke. Karin ran over to Jugo and Sasuke then crouched down on the right side of Sasuke.

"What?! What is this?" Karin asked, looking down worried at her boyfriend. _"His organs! Oh no!"_ she thought, remembering her medical training.

"His neck and chest have been seriously injured as well as the organs beneath." Jugo said, watching as Sasuke was panting and slowly dying. "He's beyond our help." closing his eye as he started to remember what Kimimaro said to him.

...

 _Flashback._

 _"In a way, Sasuke is like my reincarnation." Kimimaro said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Jugo opened his eyes.

Karin opened up her cloak and shirt halfway with her right hand, revealing 2 bit marks on her chest. "Hang in there!" she said, leaning forward but stopped when Jugo said something.

Jugo held up his right hand. "Karin, don't worry. I'll do it." he said.

Karin looked at Jugo as she lowered her right hand and placed it on the ground. "What are you gonna do?" she asked.

Jugo's right hand and the right side of his face turned orange/red then grey and he placed his right hand on Sasuke's chest, using his Cellular Regeneration Ejection on him. "I'm going to merge with him. I'll share my body and chakra, since his body is compatible with my Curse Mark. It should work." he said.

Karin looked down at Sasuke.

Killer B's skin started to peel away. "In order to break the hold of the Genjutsu, what you need is the partner who can agitate your chakra and wake you up from it. My partner's the 8 Tails that's inside of me. Ninjutsu doesn't work on Jinchūriki hosts who have control of their Tailed Beast." he said.

Karin looked at Killer B angrily at what he just did to Sasuke.

Killer B raised up his hands as the orange chakra disappeared and purple-greyish tentacles started coming out of him. "You lose and I obliterate and then y'all I shall annihilate! My true mode as the 8 Tails abode is now gonna unfold yo!" he said, transforming into 8 Tails. "It's a monster! See I told ya, hulk's transformation yo, oh yeah!" steam coming out of his nose.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin watched in horror at Killer B who was now the 8 Tails, a giant purple-greyish ushi-oni that had 8 tentacles and 4 horns but the left lower one was sliced off.

"8 Tails will make ya pee ya pants ya little ants!" Killer B said.

Karin stopped crouching down as she fell backwards. _"Such chakra... It reminds me so much of Oniisan's 9 Tails Chakra...!"_ she thought.

"That's 8 Tails?" Jugo asked.

 _"A monster ox. So this is his true form, huh."_ Suigetsu thought, diving into the water with his Executioner's Blade.

Just me and my folds, I was born glorious long Horn! Wheeee!" Killer B yelled, creating a burst of wind.

As the wind blew, Karin closed her eyes and covered her face with her right hand. When it stopped, she uncovered her face with her right and opened her eyes, lowering her right hand.

 _"His chakra's off the charts, we'll die if we stay here."_ Karin thought then looked at Jugo. "Jugo, are you done yet?" she asked.

A few moments later, Jugo stopped using his Cellular Regeneration Ejection as he took his right hand from Sasuke's chest, who had a thin circular grey spot on his chest that was turning into his fair skin.

Sasuke regained consciouness as he slowly his eyes, grunting a little bit.

Karin looked at Sasuke before she closed her eyes, smiling. _"Thank goodness, he's alive."_ she thought then opened her eyes and stopped smiling. "Good, you're conscious. Come on, you need to-" she said, pulling Sasuke up but stopped and gasped when she saw that Jugo transformed into a kid and was panting. _"He turned into a child? Why?"_ she thought.

Sasuke looked at Jugo. "Jugo." he said.

"I won't let you die. You're a... momento of Kimimaro.." Jugo said panting, his right closed.

Karin stood up from the ground. "Come on! Hurry! We've gotta run!" she said.

"Wheeee!" Killer B yelled, coming towards them.

Karin looked up at Killer B, gasping.

Killer B continued to come forward but was stopped by Suigetsu, who popped out of the water, transformed himself into a water monster and the upper half was visible in the inside but he had no clothes on and his Executioner's Blade was beside him.

Jugo, Sasuke, who activated his Sharingan, and Karin looked up at Killer B and Suigetsu.

"You're a water style shinobi, I knew it! Think you have the advantage!" Killer B yelled, moving forward but was pushed back by Suigetsu.

"I'll take over you guys! Just run while you can!" Suigetsu yelled, holding Killer B back.

Jugo stood up panting as Karin helped Sasuke up and put his left arm over her neck then held the right side of his waist, grabbing his left arm with her left hand.

Sasuke unactivated his Sharingan as his eyes turned back into his charcoal black. "Thanks, Suigetsu." he said.

"Let's go, Sasuke." Karin said turning around as she ran with Sasuke.

Jugo turned around and ran with Sasuke and Karin.

As Suigetsu continued fighting Killer B he turned around to see Jugo, Sasuke, and Karin running away.

 _"Hm, who would've thought I'd end up sacrificing myself again just to save their hides."_ Suigetsu thought then turned forward as he continued to push Killer B.

"Yo! I'm not lettin' you get away with this game fools ya fools!" Killer B yelled then opened his mouth wide as he made a Tailed Beast ball, form of a large black sphere made of little black spheres.

As they continued running, Karin looked back to see Killer B was about to fire a Tailed Beast ball.

"That really doesn't look good!" Karin yelled.

Suigetsu gritted his teeth as he waited to be hit by the Tailed Beast ball. When Killer B fired the Tailed Beast ball, a large ray of yellow appeared as he injured Suigetsu, destroyed the rocks and everything in the Valley. Jugo, Sasuke, and Karin dodged the attack.

...

9 minutes later.

Team Taka (except Suigetsu) were crouching down on their hands and knees on the water as Suigetsu was unconscious in a jelly-like state. Jugo was near Suigetsu's feet, Sasuke was near Suigetsu's stomach, and Karin was near Suigetsu's head. The glass on the right side of Karin's glasses was now cracked. Karin sensed 2 chakra nearby but didn't care about it right now.

Karin looked down at Suigetsu, who was still unconscious, panting. "I can't believe Suigetsu's all messed up." she said then looked at Sasuke. "We can't escape now. What're we gonna do?"

Sasuke looked up from the water, panting then stared at Suigetsu, Jugo, and Karin before he looked down at the water again, thinking about the ways Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin saved him. Sasuke closed his eyes and stopped panting, remembering from right to left, Karin with her hands together forward, Naruto who had his right hand on his right hip, Kakashi, who had his eyes closed, and Sakura, who had her arms together behind her back, in their usual outfits 3 years ago, smiling.

Killer B raised his right hand, yelling as he launched 3 of tentacles at Team Taka.

Jugo and Karin looked up at Killer B.

"He's coming!" Karin yelled.

Sasuke's left eye started to bleed before he opened it, activating his Mangekyo Sharingan. _"Amaterasu."_ he thought.

Before the 3 tentacles could get to them, black flames suddenly flames appeared all over Killer B, who started yelling in pain.

Jugo stood up from the water and carried Suigetsu in his left arm, surprised at what Sasuke just did. _"So those are the inextinguishable black flames Sasuke spoke of..."_ he thought.

Karin stood up from the water, surprised at the black flames. _"Woah...!"_ she thought.

Killer B yelled even more as crawled into the water.

Sasuke unactivated his Mangekyo Sharingan and closed his eyes then placed his left hand on his left eye as he held up his right fist near his left arm, grunting in pain.

When Karin saw that Killer B was coming towards them, she turned around and grabbed Jugo with her right hand and Sasuke, who put his hands down, with her left hand then tossed them a few meters away as one of the tentacles tried to squash them. When Jugo and Sasuke landed, Sasuke opened his eyes and gritted his teeth a little.

Karin crouched down and panted as one of the tentacles was about to fall on her until Sasuke raised his left hand and used his Chidori Blade to slice it off as it sinked into the water.

More tentacles came near Karin, Sasuke yelled.

"Karin, run!" Sasuke yelled, inactivating his Chidori Blade.

Karin stopped panting and stood up from the water then started to run but gasped when she was hit by one of the tentacles that had the Amaterasu on it in the back, falling on her stomach unconscious as the black flames were on her back.

"Damn! The black flames...!" Sasuke said.

"It's too late for her now." Jugo said then looked down at Sasuke. "We need to get away from here fast before we get caught in it, too!" about to walk away but stopped.

Sasuke grabbed Jugo's left arm with his left hand. "Wait, Jugo." he said.

Jugo looked down at Sasuke again. "We can't!" he said.

Sasuke released Jugo before he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and stared at Karin. _"Karin!"_ he thought as his left eye started to bleed again.

After awhile, the black flames on Karin's back disappeared.

Sasuke panted before he closed his eyes and put both of his hands on his head in pain, inactivating his Mangekyo Sharingan.

"What? But how?" Jugo asked, looking.

Killer B continued screaming as he moved forward.

"Jugo! Grab Karin! Hurry!" Sasuke said.

Jugo's right arm and the right side of his face turned orange/red then grey before he turned his right arm into a chain and quickly grabbed Karin and placed her on his right shoulder.

"The black flames have been extinguished. But how is that possible?" Jugo questioned, looking at Karin's back to see that there was a large hole in her cloak and shirt, revealing her back.

Sasuke stood up from the water. _"I was able to extinguish.. the black flames of Amaterasu."_ he thought, opening his eyes as he looked down at his hands. _"Is this another power of the Mangekyo Sharingan...?"_ then lowered his hands as he looked at Killer B, who had transformed back into his normal form. _"In which case."_ stepping forward then stopped.

Sasuke closed his eyes and opened them again, activating his Mangekyo Sharingan to extinguish the black flames. The flames started to disappear, leaving an unconscious Killer B, who doesn't have his flak jacket on anymore and his back is a little burned, was floating in the water.

Sasuke clutched his head in pain with his right hand, inactivating his Mangekyo Sharingan.

"8 Tails... It seems he's barely alive." Jugo said.

Sasuke lowered his right hand, walking over to Killer B. "Then we did manage to take him down without killing him. Let's grab him and go." he said.

Jugo walked after Sasuke.

When they made it towards Killer B, Sasuke took off his Akatsuki cloak and tied Killer B up with it before he picked him up and carried him over his right shoulder.

30 minutes later.

From left to right, Sasuke who was carrying Killer B on his right shoulder, and Jugo, who was carrying Suigetsu in his left arm and Karin on his right shoulder, were walking through a rocky desert.

Sasuke was panting and he almost tripped as he continued to walk.

Jugo looked up at Sasuke. "You must be exhausted after that... You've lost Orochimaru's Curse Mark.. and you haven't yet healed from battling Itachi." he said.

Sasuke looked down at Jugo. "I know. I really didn't expect that we have such a fight on our hands today." he said then turned forward. "But it's done now."

Jugo and Sasuke continued walking.

...

2 hours later.

Akatsuki's Hideout.

Sasuke was sitting down on a grey flat rock and was clutching his right eye with his right hand as he resting his left arm on his his left knee, panting. Killer B, who was still unconscious, was laying on his back a few feet away from Sasuke on his left side.

Jugo stood a few feet away and was facing them as he still continued to hold Suigetsu and Karin, who were still unconscious.

"Are you alright, Sasuke?" Jugo asked concerned.

Sasuke stopped panting as he took his right hand off of his right eye. "Yeah, let's hurry. We're almost at the rendezvous point." he said, standing up and picking up Killer B with both hands as he placed him on his right shoulder.

Jugo and Sasuke were done resting and started heading towards the Akatsuki's Hideout.

...

15 minutes later.

One of the Rooms in the Akatsuki's Hideout.

From left to right, Jugo and Sasuke walked into a large grey room and stopped to see Tobi was sitting on a light grey bench with his arms on his lap before Sasuke took Killer B off of his right shoulder and tossed on the ground a few feet near Tobi on his stomach.

"As promised I've delivered the 8 Tails to you." Sasuke said, putting his arms down as he made his hands into fists.

"Excellent work. I knew you could do it." Tobi said.

Jugo and Sasuke turned around and was walking towards the exit but Sasuke stopped when he heard Tobi however Jugo left out the entrance.

"Where are you going?" Tobi asked.

Sasuke turned his head to the right side to look at Tobi. "First, to tend to my wounds... then to Konoha." he said then turned forward and started to walk to the entrance.

Tobi started to remember his and Sasuke's conversation.

...

 _Flashback._

 _A few days ago._

 _Akatsuki's Hideout._

 _Tobi and Sasuke were sitting in the arm rests chairs facing each other but a large grey rectangular table separated them. Tobi had his arms folded while Sasuke had his arms resting on the arm rests. They were in a large grey room in one of the rooms in the hideout. Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin were in another room._

 _"Sasuke.. I need to ask you something important... After learning the truth about Itachi's life there is a chance that you will carry out his wishes and protect the the Hidden Leaf. So tell me the truth, what are your intentions?" Tobi asked._

 _"Itachi's life shows how he sacrificed himself to protect the Village. But my grief at losing him.. is deeper than any desire to follow his path.. inconsolably so... The peace that Itachi sacrificed himself for doesn't appeal to me, now that I know the truth, following in Itachi's footsteps to protect the the Hidden Leaf is the last thing I would do." Sasuke said then started gripping the arm rests with both hands. "Most of all, I will never forgive the 3 Elders of Konohagakure.. I believe everyone in the Leaf whose enjoying the peace paid for with Itachi's life is guilty, too."_

 _"I thought you were only going to kill the elders?" Tobi asked._

 _"No, what I want is to slaughter most of Konohagakure but only by myself. I was just lying in front of the Taka." Sasuke said._

 _"Are you sure about that? You could truly ignore Itachi's will, his sacrifice as well as those he strove the protect? Are you really serious?" Tobi questioned._

 _Sasuke closed his eyes. "Look, you told me so yourself.. the reason why Itachi couldn't bring himself to kill me was because my life was more precious to him than the Village itself was." he said then opened his eyes. "I have similar feelings.. that Itachi's life is more precious than the Konoha, that's all."_

 _Tobi continued to stare at Sasuke in silence._

 _Sasuke gripped the arm rests in anger. "They shunned the Uchiha and Uzumaki clan, they ordered my brother to kill half of each one. It wasn't just the elders who chased Itachi to his death, but all those in the Konohagakure who abide by the Senju! To me they are the scum of the earth! They are all objects of my vengeance!" he yelled._

 _Tobi watched as Sasuke released the arm rests and put his hands together on the table in his his usual way as he closed his eyes and put his head in in hands._

 _"If you want to ridicule me as a brat swayed by his emotions, go ahead. To accept and adopt Itachi's intentions would be childish. The foolish sputtering of those who don't know hatred... if anyone who critizes my way of life were to come forward... I turn around and kill every single one of their loved ones, so that they too would grasp what it's like." Sasuke said then raised his head up as he opened his eyes, activating his Mangekyo Sharingan. "To experience this hatred of mine."_

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Tobi continued to watch Sasuke leave. _"When a man learns to feel love, he must also bare the risk of feeling hate."_ he thought.

When Sasuke caught up to Jugo in one of the hallways, he stopped walking.

"Jugo." Sasuke said.

Jugo turned around and turned around to look at Sasuke. "What is it?" he asked.

"Let me hold Karin." Sasuke said, seeing that she was still unconscious.

Jugo stepped up to Sasuke and placed Karin off of his right shoulder and handed her to Sasuke with his right hand, who carefully grabbed Karin with both of his hands and held her bridal style. Sasuke placed KKarin's head on his left shoulder.

"We're leaving." Sasuke said then started walking away.

"Where are we going?" Jugo asked, walking after him.

"Somewhere to rest." Sasuke said.

...

A few hours later.

Somewhere in Kumogakure.

Team Taka were in dark brown brick building that looks like it in ruins but it wasn't as it had a green door.

Karin's eyes slowly flickered as she started to regain consciousness. When she fully opened her eyes, Karin looked to see that she was sitting in Sasuke's lap, who had his arms wrapped around her and was sitting on a small grey crate that had a large wooden brown crate on the right side of it that had a clear glass of water and a clear glass bottle.

"Sa... Sasuke." Karin said, looking up at him.

Sasuke looked down at Karin, relieved. "Karin, you're finally awake." he said, holding her a little closer.

Karin looked around to see that Suigetsu was unconscious in a large clear tank that had green water at the top and cloudy pink substance at the bottom, Jugo was sitting on one of the many large dark grey pipes in the room, and the room was a little dark.

Karin looked up at Sasuke again. "Where's the 8 Tails?" she asked.

"We've delivered him to Tobi." Sasuke said.

"So, how long was I out?" Karin asked.

"Only for a few hours." Sasuke said then started caressing Karin's head with his right hand.

Karin closed her eyes as she remembered everything that happened up until the point that she was unconscious. _"Well, at least it's over..."_ she thought, relaxing into Sasuke's arms.

* * *

A few days later.

Day Time.

Tower.

Sasuke was sitting on the small grey crate with his left hand resting on his lap and his right hand resting on the large crate beside him on the right side, Jugo was sitting on one of the large piles, Suigetsu was in the tank and awake as his lower half was liquified and he had no shirt, and Karin, who was now wearing black rimmed glasses, no Akatsuki cloak, new clothes of her usual outfit, and her hair in a mid-ponytail but her bangs were the same, was standing on the right side of the tank and was facing it.

"You are so useless!" Suigetsu said, looking at Karin. "Why did you leave behind my Executioner's Blade?!"

Karin looked at Suigetsu annoyed. "Shut up, Suigetsu!" she said, moving her right hand around. "You should just be thankful that we didn't leave you behind, too!" folding her arms together.

"How dare you! Y'know you were knocked out just as much as I was, Karin." Suigetsu said.

"I ended up that way trying to protect all of you!" Karin said.

Jugo looked at Suigetsu and Karin. "All of us were protecting each other you guys. We're like fish and water, we can't do without one another. So stop your quarreling." he said.

Suigetsu remembered Killer B attacking before he was unconscious. "Yeah, alright fine." he said then looked at Sasuke. "But anyway, are we really gonna get the Tailed Beast's power now, Sasuke?"

Sasuke closed his eyes. "Hmph. Who knows, maybe. But actually, we no longer need to depend on such things." he said.

"Why's that?" Suigetsu questioned.

Sasuke opened his eyes. _"Because I have obtained new powers... powers stronger enough for me to take down Konohagakure."_ he thought then looked down at the glass of water before he tried to grab it with his right hand but it fell over, making him gasp.

Karin put her arms down as she and Suigetsu looked over at Sasuke.

"Is something wrong, Sasuke?" Karin asked.

Sasuke squinted a little as his vision was getting a little blurry, covering his right eye with his right hand. "It's nothing at all." he said.

Karin sensed that Sasuke was lying and was about to question him until she suddenly sensed someone outside, she turned to the right side gasping.

Jugo looked at Karin. "What is it, Karin?" he asked.

"I sense a chakra outside. It seems we were followed." Karin said.

Sasuke took his right hand from his right. "Jugo, let's go." he said, standing up.

"Right." Jugo said, standing up from the pipe.

Jugo and Sasuke walked towards the door and Sasuke opened it with his left hand before he and Jugo walked out.

Suigetsu and Karin watched as Jugo and Sasuke walked out and sensed that they were heading towards the chakra. After a while, Karin sensed that the unknown chakra fade away as Jugo and Sasuke were near it. Within a few moments, she started to sense that Jugo and Sasuke were coming back inside their hideout.

Suigetsu and Karin watched as Jugo and Sasuke walked back in to see that Jugo was carrying a man that looks to be 25, dark brown skin, bald, light brown eyes, in the Kumogakure flak jacket uniform that had long sleeves, black sunglasses that had no arms, and a white Kumogakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, on his right shoulder.

Karin watched as Jugo placed the man down on the ground with both hands. "We need to go somewhere else. If he was able to find us then I'm sure more will be coming soon." she said, placing her left hand on her left hip.

* * *

1 week later.

Night Time.

Nikkō Inn Town.

Okoshi Inn.

Team Taka booked 2 rooms and were staying there until they fully healed. Karin were sharing a room and Jugo and Suigetsu were sharing a room.

Karin, in her night clothes, was laying on the right side of the futon with brown sheets covering her. She was looking up at the ceiling as she was waiting for Sasuke to come back, who was still outside training. She sensed that Sasuke was far away and something a little dark on him.

 _"Sasuke's been acting strange lately. But I can't blame him after everything that's happened."_ Karin thought, closing her eyes. _"However, I wonder what he's doing out there?"_

Karin opened her eyes before she took off her glasses with her left hand and placed it on the floor on the right side of her. She started to fall asleep.

* * *

3 days later.

Okoshi Inn Hot Spring.

Day Time.

Team Taka (except Jugo) were spending time in the hotel's hot spring. Karin, her hair now down and in a dark brown robe with a light blue kimono-like shirt underneath, was secretly watching from the women's side, which had a large red sheet that had the kanji for women in white letters hanging over the entrance, at Sasuke who was wearing a light blue robe with dark blue trimmings and had a white towel in his left hand, walked into the men's side, which had dark blue sheet covering the entrance with the kanji for me in white letters.

Karin peeked in the hallway as her left hand were on the sheet, blushing a little. "Finally, I have some alone time with Sasuke again." she said smirking, laughing a little before she quickly left the women's side and went over to the men's side. She went inside the men's side and took off her robe and shirt off and placed them on the floor before she wrapped the towel around her with both hands, placing her right hand on the entrance to see Sasuke, who wasn't wearing a robe anymore and had his towel wrapped around his lower half, standing a few feet away from her. "This should be okay."

Sasuke had his left hand on his left hip, looking at Karin. "What should be okay?" he asked.

Karin took her right hand off of the entrance and took her glasses with her right hand, smiling and blushing lightly. "Sasuke, if you really want me to, I'll wash your back..." she said, walking over to Sasuke.

Sasuke closed his eyes, leaning his head down. "Not right now." he said.

Karin stopped in front of Sasuke, placing her left hand on his right shoulder as their chests were together. "Oh, come on! We can spend some time together!" she said.

Karin gasped in shock and removed her left hand from Sasuke's right shoulder as she sensed Suigetsu coming out of the hot spring. She placed her glasses back on her face with her right hand and looked over Sasuke's right shoulder.

Suigetsu, who was naked in the hot sprihad his eyes closed. "Whew! Now this is heaven." he said, smiling.

When Sasuke heard a girl screech, he opened his eyes and stop smiling to see Sasuke and Karin.

Karin put left hand on her glasses, annoyed. "Suigetsu, what the hell are you doing?!" she asked, yelling.

"What are you doing?" Suigetsu asked, smiling.

Karin took her left off of her glasses, nervous. "Well I... You know, I mean... It's none of your business!" she said then walked away and grabbed a small basket that had supplies in it with both hands.

Suigetsu stopped smiling and looked up to see that Karin threw basket at him, making him surprised as it hit him in the face and made him fall into the water.

Karin walked over to her robe and shirt and picked them up before put them on and walked out of the men's side. As she was walking back towards the women's side, she became annoyed.

"Tch. And to think me and Sasuke could've had some alone time again!" Karin said to herself then closed her eyes, sighing. "Still..." then her head around and opened her eyes, a little sad. "Sasuke didn't want to spend time last time..."

...

Afternoon.

Forest.

Karin, in her usual outfit, was training in the forest for awhile as Team Taka were going to be leaving tomorrow and she wanted to be in fighting shape. As Karin lifted her left fist up from the ground after she did her Cherry Blossom Impact, she suddenly sensed a very familiar chakra, which was Sasuke coming towards her. She started to remember what happened hours ago.

...

 _Flashback._

 _Karin took her right hand off of the entrance and took her glasses with her right hand, smiling and blushing lightly. "Sasuke, if you really want me to, I'll wash your back..." she said, walking over to Sasuke._

 _Sasuke closed his eyes, leaning his head down. "Not right now." he said._

 _Karin stopped in front of Sasuke, placing her left hand on his right shoulder as their chests were together. "Oh, come on! We can spend some time together!" she said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Karin became annoyed. _"What does he want?"_ she thought, turning around.

After a little while, Karin saw Sasuke, in his usual outfit, was a few feet away from her now.

"What do you want?" Karin asked, taking her left hand off of the shoji door.

"I see your sensory skills have improved." Sasuke said. "And I came to talk to you."

"It can wait. You said you were busy." Karin said, placing her right hand on her right hip tried to turn around and walk away only for Sasuke to walk up to her and grab her left hand with his right hand.

"Karin, please listen." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Sasuke for a moment, seeing the concern in his eyes. She sighed. "Fine, what is it?" she said facing him as she took her right hand off of her right hip.

Sasuke released Karin's left hand.

"I wanted to say that I'm sorry for ignoring you." Sasuke said.

Karin didn't say anything for a moment as she started to stare as she continued to stare at Sasuke. "You've been ignoring me and you never spend time with me anymore." she said.

"I'm sorry, I just had to think for awhile." Sasuke said, grabbing Karin and pulling her into a hug. "I didn't mean to hurt you."

Karin slowly returned Sasuke's embrace, resting her head on left shoulder and wrapped her arms around his neck. "Where are we going tomorrow?" she asked.

"Somewhere close." Sasuke said.

Karin stopped resting her head as she looked up at Sasuke, confused. "Close?" she questioned.

"To Konoha." Sasuke said.

* * *

6 days later.

Day Time.

Tower.

The tower room they were in had a small room, a single door, window, and it was dark despite the sealed candles on the walls.

Sasuke was sleeping in a large light brown bean bag chair by the window, Jugo was sitting on the floor next to a pipe with his eyes closed, and Karin, now wearing her brown narrow glasses again and in her temporary outfit, a black sleeveless dress that had the Uzumaki clan crest on the back of it and black sandals, was reading a small black book in her right hand and wassitting on the floor a few feet away from Jugo. Suigetsu 3 days ago to search for something.

Sasuke slowly started to wake up and closed his eyes again breathing opened his again before he looked around. "Where has Suigetsu gone?" he asked sitting up, looking over at Karin.

Karin looked at Sasuke. "Suigetsu? Dunno? He went out about 2, 3 days ago and hasn't bothered to come back yet." she said then looked down at her book again. "To tell you the truth, I don't care if he ever comes back."

"I heard that, ya know!" Suigetsu said smirking, kicking the door open with his left leg.

Karin watched as Suigetsu, in his usual outfit, walked in and was carrying his Executioner's Blade in his right hand. Sasuke looked down at the floor.

"The Executioner's Blade? You went all the way back to get that old thing?" Karin asked.

Suigetsu stopped and faced Karin as he placed his Executioner's Blade over his shoulders. "Well you left it behind. It was a real pain to get it back." he said.

Karin became annoyed as she looked back down at her book. "I had better things to do than worry about your stuff when we fought the 8 Tails okay." she said.

"Well I carried the 2 of you out of there when you were dying." Jugo said, opening his eyes. "So quit fighting."

"Oh patronize why don't cha." Karin said.

"Tch whatever. I'm just glad I have this baby back where it belongs." Suigetsu said holding up his Executioner's Blade with his right hand before he swung it around.

Karin stopped reading her book and looked up at Suigetsu.

Suigetsu placed the lower part of his sword on the ground as he leaned on it with his right arm. "I'm incomplete without it." he said.

Sasuke stopped looking down as he stood up from the chair. "Now that all of us are here, it's time to get ready to leave." he said, turning around towards the window.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin looked at Sasuke.

"Huh? You're all healed up?" Suigetsu asked.

"Yeah." Sasuke said then turned towards them. "We're heading for Konoha."

Karin looked down. _"I hope I don't have to face them in battle."_ she thought, thinking about her family her clan, and others that are important to her.

...

2 hours later.

Forest.

Jugo, Suigetsu, Sasuke, and Karin, in her usual outfit, were wearing black hooded cloaks as they were hopping from tree to tree. Sasuke was in the front, Karin was on the left side of Sasuke, Jugo was on the right side of Sasuke, and Suigetsu was behind Sasuke. Karin suddenly sensed a familiar chakra appearing ahead of them.

 _"How did he get here?"_ Karin thought.

Team Taka looked to see Tobi standing on one of the tree branches up ahead.

"Hey, Sasuke." Tobi said.

Team Taka stopped a few feet away from Tobi on some of the tree branches.

 _"I hadn't sensed his chakra until now. How is that possible?"_ Karin thought.

"Talk about bad timing." Suigetsu said annoyed, putting his left hand on the left side of his face then removed it.

"How the hell did you know where I was anyway?" Sasuke asked.

"Do not take me lightly. I have powers beyond your comprehension." Tobi said.

"So what do want from me? Team Taka left the Akatsuki a long time ago. We have no further business with you anymore." Sasuke said.

"I warned you that you would die if you betrayed the Akatsuki." Tobi said.

"What are you talking about?" Sasuke asked.

"The hunt for the Tailed Beast." Tobi said.

"But we already captured the 8 Tails for you and handed him over like you asked." Karin said.

"That was a substitution. In short, you blundered." Tobi said.

Team Taka became shocked and confused.

"It seems the 8 Tails pulled a fast one on you." Tobi said.

Karin remembered Sasuke slicing off one of the tentacles before she was knocked unconscious. _"So that must've happened then."_ she thought.

 _"I was watching it with my Sharingan the whole time. He had no opportunity to make a clone... It must've been when I sliced off that tentacle."_ Sasuke thought.

"To be honest, I'm quite disappointed in you." Tobi said. "What are you going to do about it?"

"We've got nothing to do with you anymore." Suigetsu said.

"No, I think will have you complete the task Akatsuki assigned you. Don't worry about the 8 Tails though. I have something else for you to do." Tobi said.

"And if we refuse?" Sasuke questioned.

"Then there would be quite the battle here." Tobi said. "I won't let you proceed to Konoha."

"We'll push through!" Sasuke said, raising his left hand as he activated his Chidori and activated his Sharingan.

Tobi gasped a little as Sasuke jumped forward and tried to attack him with his Chidori but he went right through him.

"It's a little too late to go to the Hidden Leaf anyway." Tobi said.

When Sasuke landed on a nearby tree branch, he unactivated his Sharingan and stopped using his Chidori as he looked at Tobi surprised.

 _"I passed right through him just like before. Is this one of his powers?"_ Sasuke thought.

"Your objective seems so futile now. It's sad really." Tobi said.

"What do you mean?" Sasuke questioned.

Tobi looked at Sasuke a little bit. "The Village hidden in the Leaves.. is no more." he said.

Team Taka became surprised.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Karin asked. _"Are the villagers okay if the village is destroyed?"_ she thought.

Karin suddenly sensed another familiar chakra appearing on the left side of Tobi.

Black and White Zetsu, in their usual outfits, poked out of the tree branch as they were cocooned in the plant.

"I can explain everything that happened in Konoha." Black Zetsu said.

"It's him again." Karin said.

"Relax. He's an associate of mine." Tobi said then turned to Black and White Zetsu. "So, what happened to the Hokage?"

"He disappeared and is temporarily being replaced by Danzo." White Zetsu said.

"Just as I anticipated." Tobi said, turning forward.

 _"Uncle Minato disappeared. And now he's being replaced by the man told Itachi to kill the Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan."_ Karin thought.

Danzo? He's Hokage now?" Sasuke asked.

"Correct. He's one of Konoha's top brass that drove your brother into a corner. That's the man who's become the new Hokage." Tobi said.

"Just what the hell happened in the Hidden Leaf Village?" Sasuke asked.

Tobi raised his left hand. "My subordinate, Pain, destroyed it. And thanks to both you and Pain showing off, it seems the 5 Kage are going to take action." he said.

"The 5 Kage?" Sasuke questioned.

"They called for a 5 Kage Summit." Tobi said.

"I'll explain it all." White Zetsu said.

...

20 minutes later.

Black and White Zetsu explained how the Village was destroyed, the 4th Hokage disappearing, most of the villagers dying and being revived, Naruto defeating Pain, and others things.

"Naruto? This Naruto guy really defeated Pain all by himself?" Suigetsu questioned.

 _"That's Oniisan for you."_ Karin thought.

"That's right. He's become extremely strong. In fact, I think he's stronger than Sasuke right now." White Zetsu said.

Sasuke closed his eyes and smirked for a moment before he opened his eyes then made a serious face again. "I don't care about that. What is a problem is this 5 Kage Summit." he said.

Suigetsu raised his hands up. "So what do we do? If Konoha is gone now. And if our target this guy, Danzo, is going to this meeting of the 5 Kage then shouldn't we head over there too?" he asked.

Karin looked at Suigetsu, annoyed.

"W-what? You think I'm wrong about that?" Suigetsu asked, lowering his hands.

Karin looked at Sasuke again.

"Alright, we're modifying the plan. Taka's new goal is to head for the 5 Kage Summit and take the Hokage's head." Sasuke said.

"Sounds like a plan." Tobi said.

"So, how do we find out where this 5 Kage Summit taking place?" Karin said. _"Uh, this situation's becoming annoying."_ she thought.

Tobi looked down at Black and White Zetsu. "Zetsu." he said.

"My clone will serve as your guide." White Zetsu said.

Black and White Zetsu opened up as they placed their hands on the tree as they started to split apart.

Team Taka and Tobi watched as Black and White Zetsu started to split apart. Karin weirded out when they were done.

"Okay, follow me." White said before he jumped forward.

Team Taka followed after White Zetsu as Tobi and Black Zetsu watched them hop from tree to tree.

Jugo looked at Sasuke. "Is it alright to trust these guys?" he asked.

"We'll keep an eye on them for now. If anything seems suspicious then I'll get rid of them with my Amaterasu. Besides, there's something I've been meaning to test out anyway." Sasuke said.

...

2 hours later.

Land of Iron.

Team Taka and White Zetsu were hoping from tree to tree through the icy, snow covered country. The sky was cloudy and grey.

"Man, it's really gettin' cold out." Suigetsu said.

"The Land of Iron is just a stone's throw away from here." White Zetsu said.

Karin suddenly sensed many chakras other than themselves. "Hold on! There's something just up ahead." she said.

"What?" Sasuke questioned, looking backwards at Karin.

...

24 minutes later.

White Zetsu, Jugo, Sasuke, and Karin were standing in front of a frozen lake as they were hiding from the Samurais, who were dressed in white heavy segmented plate armour that covers the shoulders, chest, stomach, lower back, upper back, lower sides, and thighs, light grey shin guards, gauntlets, and helmet (some of them were wearing horns), swords, black body suit gloves, grey face masks that have built in radios and respirators to combat poison, who were looking around and standing over a cliff above them.

They were looking down at the cracked ice as Suigetsu's head popped out of it.

"Well? How is it?" Karin asked.

"Looks like security has tightened quite a bit due to the 5 Kage Summit." Suigetsu said.

Sasuke looked down at Jugo. "Jugo, listen. You have to use the animals and scout out the least defended route you can find to the Summit site." he said.

"Right, I'm on it." Jugo said, looking up at Sasuke.

...

10 minutes later.

Team Taka and White Zetsu were standing a few feet away from the lake now as a medium sized brown owl was flying down towards them until Jugo held out his right arm and it landed on it.

After a few seconds, Sasuke started to say something.

"Well then." Sasuke said.

Jugo looked at Sasuke. "There's a route to the west we can take. There are fewer guards as well." he said.

Sasuke and Karin looked at each other.

"Karin, keep a close eye on the chakra positions of the guards. We're going to begin our infiltration." Sasuke said.

Karin held up both of her hands. "What? I'm coming too." she asked then lowered her arms.

White Zetsu, Jugo, and Suigetsu looked at Karin.

"Yep, it's finally time for you to let those skills of yours shine." Suigetsu said, smiling.

Sasuke looked at White Zetsu. "Your name's Zetsu, right?" he asked.

"That's right." White Zetsu said.

Team Taka looked at White Zetsu.

"You're going to point out which one is Danzo for me. You're coming too." Sasuke said.

...

30 minutes later.

White Zetsu and Team Taka were walking towards 3 Mountains called the '3 wolves' because they looked like 3 wolves mouths. From forward to backwards, White Zetsu, Jugo, Sasuke, Karin, and Suigetsu were walking forward.

Team Taka were following white Zetsu up a trail of snow to avoid being noticed by the samurais. As they were walking Suigetsu started to say something.

"Wouldn't it be better to set up an ambush and kill him before the Summit?" Suigetsu asked, whining. "I'm tired already."

"What are you stupid? If the Hokage's arrival is delayed, they'll know something happened to him on the way there." Karin said, looking back at him and raised her left hand up. "Then they'll send in a swarm of samurai reinforcements. And what if the other Kage come to, huh? We don't the enemies abilities you idiot so it's best to bide our time and just attack him on his way home. Right, Sasuke?" then turned her to look in the front of her, lowering her left hand.

Sasuke groaned as he turned his slightly to the back, he stopped walking along with Jugo, turning around to look at her. Karin and Suigetsu stopped walking as well.

"Just focus on the chakra of our enemies, Karin." Sasuke said, rudely.

Karin was a little hurt that Sasuke was suddenly being rude to her now, but didn't show it.

Suigetsu laughed and pointed his right index finger at her. "Haha! You got told!" he said.

Karin turned to Suigetsu. "Shut your trap!" she yelled.

White Zetsu stopped walking. "Wow Sasuke, it seems you have your hands full." he said, smiling.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin turned their head back to see Sasuke now looking at White Zetsu now.

"All that matters is that you will identify Danzo to me before the Summit starts." Sasuke said. "You better not lie."

"That's right, I can feel the flow of chakra. And a person's chakra always becomes muddied when they lie." Karin then smirked and pointed her finger at White Zetsu. "So just remember, I'll be keeping an eye on your chakra, got it."

"There's no reason to lie to you. After all Danzo is a hindrance to the Akatsuki, too." White Zetsu said, looking at them.

Karin sensed his chakra. _"He's not lying."_ she thought.

Karin looked up at the location they were heading to, it looked like 3 wolves mouths. _"What will happen when we go inside?"_ she thought.

...

35 minutes later.

Inside the 3 Wolves Mountains.

Inside the Mountains was a building, it was halfway dark, blue pillars with red markings on it were lined up, beige bricks, doorways far from each other on the walls. Samurais were near the middle entrance. From left to right, Jugo, Suigetsu, White Zetsu, Sasuke, and Karin, were hiding in the balcony as their hoods were up.

From left to right, White Zetsu and Team Taka looked down to see a fair skinned man that looked to be 19 years old, had short dull black spiky hair, lean built, fairly tall, black eyes, in his usual outfit, a black mask that had the Konohagakure metal plate on top of it and covered his head except his nose, mouth, and some lower parts of his face, glasses were built into the mask as it obscured his eyes, a high collared short black jacket that had 1 red scrap on each of the shoulders, long sleeved black shirt, long black pants, black gloves, red sash wrapped around his waist, black apron over his pants, 2 medium sized light grey pouches on his sides, a black sword that was bandaged up in white tape scrapped to his back, and black sandals, Danzo, in his usual outfit, had the Hokage headpiece attached behind him, and his cane in his left hand, and a fair skinned man that looked to be 19 years old, had shoulder-length auburn hair that some of the back was tied up in a short high ponytail, amber eyes, in his usual outfit, a short black jacket that 1 red scrap on each shoulder, a short sleeved dark brown kimono-like shirt, black sash, black gloves, long black pants, black sword that was wrapped up in white tape was scrapped to his back, black Konohagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, and black sandals, were walking towards the Samurais.

Karin's eyes widened when she noticed Danzo months earlier. _"He's the man I've walked passed in hallway...!"_ she thought.

"Sir. We've been expecting you." the head Samurai said to Danzo.

"That's him. The geezer in the middle." White Zetsu said.

Danzo and his 2 subordinates walked towards the middle doorway.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan as glared at Danzo. "So, that's Danzo?!" he questioned, silently.

"Sasuke." Karin said, whispering.

Sasuke looked at Karin. "What is it?" he asked.

"I recognize him. A few months ago, I walked passed him when he exited the Uncle Minato's office." Karin said.

Sasuke looked back at Danzo, who disappeared with his 2 subordinates, before he unactivated his Sharingan.

...

1 hour later.

As White Zetsu and Team Taka continued to look at the Samurais, they silently walked away and hopped through the pillars before they quietly walked on the ceiling. From left to right, Karin, Suigetsu, Jugo, and Sasuke hid behind one of the pillars to avoid being seen by the Samurais.

Karin looked around for White Zetsu as she no longer sensed his chakra. "Hey, wait. Where'd he go?" she asked before she turned to look at Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at Karin before he turned his head and placed his right hand in his hair. "Hmph." he said, lowering his right hand.

...

10 minutes later.

Karin's head perked up a little as she sensed that the Samurais were now scattering. "This is...!" she said.

Jugo and Sasuke looked at Karin.

"Karin, what's the matter?" Sasuke asked.

"The samurais have started to move more frantically. I think they're looking for us." Karin said.

Suigetsu looked at Karin. "Huh? But why? We haven't done anything that would make them suspect us." he questioned.

Jugo looked up at Sasuke. "I bet it was Zetsu." he said.

Sasuke looked to the left side.

"We better hide." Karin said before she saw that Sasuke was taking off his cloak with both hands.

Sasuke held up his cloak with his left hand and pulled out a kunai from his pouch with his right hand. "You guys go on ahead, I have to do something." he said then stabbed his cloak into one of the pillars with the kunai.

"Sure." Karin said.

Team Taka disappeared as Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin jumped up on a nearby balcony and sat down as they hid while Sasuke was standing on the ceiling.

As the samurais scattered everywhere, one of them stopped spotted Sasuke's cloak before he pulled one of his swords with his left hand and ran over towards, only to the cloak was pinned with a kunai.

The samurai turned around. "So they've run away already, huh?" he questioned.

Sasuke jumped off the ceiling and knocked the samurai out, who grunted in pain and fell to the ground, before he landed on the ground as he looked down at him.

...

3 minutes later.

From left to right, Karin, who had her hands together, Jugo, who had his left arm resting on his left knee, and Suigetsu, who had his hands on the balcony and was staring down at the samurais, were quietly hiding on the balcony.

"It's no use, there's too many of them. We'll probably be found and captured in no time." Karin said.

"So that Zetsu guy told them off, huh?" Suigetsu questioned. "I'll get him for this!"

Karin stopped sitting down as she turned around and stood up on her knees then placed her hands on the balcony watching silently at the samurais.

Suigetsu and Karin saw the Samurais took out their swords before they channeled their chakra through them.

"I see. So that's how they use their chakra." Suigetsu said.

Karin gasped when she saw Sasuke walking out of one of pillars.

The Samurais turned to Sasuke, who continued walking.

"I'm very irritated right now." Sasuke said then stopped at one of the pillars as he faced the samurais. "Attack and I doubt I can hold back."

"We could say the same to you!" the head Samurai said before he sent channels of chakra to Sasuke thought both of his swords in his hands.

As the waves of chakra were coming towards him, Sasuke activated his Sharingan and pulled out his sword with his right hand before he channelled his Lightning Style into it, deflecting the waves of chakra as dust and pieces of rock started falling down.

The Samurais became shocked.

"He repelled them?!" the head Samurai asked.

"His blade work is similar to ours!" one of the Samurais said.

Jugo looked at Karin. "Karin, stop monitoring those guys. Find out where Danzo is." he said.

"But what do we do about the samurais? I have to fight them too." Karin asked, looking at Jugo.

"Don't worry about that, I'll deal with them. Locate Danzo." Jugo said before he turned around and stood a little bit as he looked down at the scene.

The samurais ran towards Sasuke, who stood there.

Karin gasped in shock as she suddenly sensed that Sasuke's chakra has become dark and thicker. _"Sasuke's chakra... is different."_ she thought.

When one of the samurais made towards him, Sasuke immediately killed him by striking him with his sword with his right hand before he jumped forward and landed on the ground. Sasuke started killing the samurais one by one with his sword as they came at him.

Karin turned around and sat down as she wrapped her arms around herself, scared.

Suigetsu raised his left fist. "Look at him. And this is guy who warned me not to kill anyone." he said then lowered his fist.

"This is..." Jugo said.

"He's the same Sasuke he was before, his chakra's thicker than when he's in the Curse Mark second state and... it's colder.

 _"He's the same Sasuke he was before. His chakra's thicker than when he's in the Curse Mark second state and..."_ she thought then stopped sitting down again as she turned around and stood on her knees and placed her hands on the balcony, looking down at Sasuke, who now had a little blood on his face as he continued killing the Samurais. _"It's colder."_ then she and Suigetsu saw that Jugo suddenly stood up and jumped off the balcony.

3 of the samurais jumped into the air and swung their channeled chakra from their swords at Sasuke, but before the chakra could reach him, Jugo stepped in front of Sasuke and raised his right transformed axe hand and blocked the attack as the right side of his face transformed.

The 3 samurais landed on the ground to see Jugo, who lowered his right hand, was standing in front of Sasuke.

"He's not alone." one of the samurai said.

Karin looked up at the ceiling as she suddenly sensed 3 powerful chakras were coming towards them. _"Something big is coming our way. It's huge."_ she thought.

When there was loud shaking, Team Taka looked up at the ceiling.

"What's that?!" Jugo questioned.

Suigetsu and Karin gasped as they saw the ceiling suddenly cracked as dust and large pieces of the ceiling fall to the ground. Jugo and Sasuke jumped backwards to avoid being crushed as they landed on the ground.

Moments of silence happened until the dust started to clear up to reveal 3 men from left to right, the 1st man looked to be 26 years old, had fair skin, short spiky blonde hair, black eyes, in his usual outfit, the Kumogakure flak jacket uniform, a sleeveless black shirt, white Kumogakure flak jacket, long black pants, white and red Kumogakure shin guards, black sandals, black Kumogakure Forehead Protector wrapped around his forehead, black elbow length arm guards, the 2nd one looked to be 47 years old, shoulder length blonde hair that was combed back, a small blonde mustache, blonde goatee, pronounced cheekbones, tear troughs, green Fūma Shurikens on both of his shoulders, muscles, abs, brown skin, prominent creases on his forehead, sharp canines, dark green eyes, in his usual outfit, a white haori, no shirt, 3 large golden vambraces on each of his wrists, long black pants with torn ends, gold belt wrapped around his waist that had the face of a board engraved on it, green clothed wrapped around his waist that was mainly on the left side, Kumo shin guards, and black sandals, and the 3rd man looked to be 26 years old, dark brown skin, slight bulbous nose, short white hair that covered his left eye, black eyes, kanji tattoo water (水) on his left shoulder and _lightning_ (雷) tattooed on his left shoulders in blue ink, a black high collared sleeveless shirt, loose long black pants, white bandages wrapped around his wrists, Kumogakure flak jacket, black sandals, and a grey broad foldable cleaver sword that has a white and red handle scrapped to his back, were standing and facing them.

"Hey, kid!" the man in the middle yelled, taking his hoari off and threw it to the ground with his right hand then activated his Lightning Release Chakra Mode around himself. "I am going to teach you the fear of true fury!"

Sasuke started to run towards the 3 unknown chakras with his lightning channelled sword in his right hand.

Jugo looked at Sasuke, shocked. "Sasuke! Don't engage him by yourself!" he yelled at Sasuke, who ignored him as he kept running. _"He's lost his cool!"_ he thought.

Sasuke jumped up and prepared to attack the man in the middle.

The man on the right side made the hand signs of Tiger Snake Rat Snake Tiger with both hands. "Water Style: Water Wall!" he said, holding up his right hand as water came out of his mouth.

The water wall deflected Sasuke's attack as it kept him in place.

Sasuke looked at the man on the right side. _"So he's the one?!"_ he thought.

The man on the right side made the Rabbit Dog Boar Ram Rat hand signs with both hands as continued to use the water wall. "Lightning Style: Emotion Wave!" he said, his 2 Jutsus together.

Sasuke was wet and shocked before he jumped backwards, crouching down on the floor on the right side of Jugo.

The man on the right side put his hands down as he stopped using his 2 Jutsus. "Boss, it looks like he has lightning nature, just as the Intel reported." he said.

"He also has a nature in fire, so I'm sure he'll end up using a Fire Style then." The man on the left side said then looked at the man on the right side. "Darui, be ready to use your Water Style to counter him."

Darui looked at the man on the left side. "Got it." he said.

Sasuke continued crouching down on the from the ground as he rested his left arm on his left knee and looked at the 3 chakras, feeling the lightning style Rin through his body before it stopped.

"Danzo must've given them information about Sasuke." Karin said. _"I wonder if he has information on me as well."_ she thought.

"Hey. There.. the one in the middle... I recognize him..." Suigetsu said.

"These guys are Jonins from Kumogakure. The guy in the middle is their Raikage." Jugo said. "They won't let us pass easily."

The one remaining samurai that wasn't killed by Sasuke hid behind one of the pillars watching as he placed his left hand on his mask to his radio. "Requesting reinforcements, Sasuke defeated us." he said.

The man on the left side made the hand signs of Ram Horse Snake Tiger with both hands. "I'll gonna stop your movements!" he said.

"He's going to attack!" Jugo said.

Sasuke lowered his head a little bit.

The man on the left side placed his hands together. "Lightning Illusion: Flash Pillar!" he yelled, a bright white light emanating from his body.

Jugo and Sasuke covered their faces with their left hands.

"He's trying to blind us!" Jugo said then uncovered his face with his left hand to see the Raikage was in front of Sasuke. "Sasuke!"

The Raikage punched Sasuke, uncovered his face with his left hand and stopped channelling his lightning style through his sword, with his right arm as he made a crater below them. Jugo covered his face.

Jugo uncovered his face with his hands as he watched Sasuke fall backwards. "No way!" he said.

"Jugo! Relax, it's just a Genjutsu." Sasuke said, dispelling the Genjutsu.

Jugo looked to see no crater and that he was standing in the same place as Sasuke was still kneeling down on the floor as his left hand was on his left knee, he gasped. Karin watched as Suigetsu stood up and jumped off the balcony.

The man on the left side smirked, lowering his hands. _"Should have figured Sharingan.. still..."_ he thought.

The Raikage and Darui, who now had his Cleaver Sword in both of his hands, appeared next to them.

"Even though you've looked through the Genjutsu, you're too late!" The Raikage yelled, raising his right arm.

The Raikage started to attack Sasuke with his right arm and Darui started to attack Sasuke with his Cleaver Sword with both hands.

"Sasuke!" Karin yelled, worried.

Suigetsu appeared in front of Sasuke and took out his Executioner's Blade with both hands as he blocked Raikage's right arm. Jugo used his right arm to block Darui's Cleaver Sword. A started to appear below them.

Suigetsu closed his right eye and grunted as he couldn't take the strength of the Raikage. The Executioner's Blade broke in half as the long upper half was spinning in the air. Jugo and Darui stopped clashing as the Raikage made a crater.

From left to right, Jugo, Sasuke, was still kneeling down on the ground and his left arm on his left knee, and Suigetsu, who had the sleeves of his cloak torn and holding the lower part of his Executioner's Blade with his left hand as his arms were in liquid form, slid against the wall behind them.

Suigetsu looked down with both eyes at his broken Executioner's Blade, annoyed. "Ah, damn it. That's just great. My Executioner's Blade's broken." he said.

Jugo stood up as he looked at Suigetsu. "Well it cracked when we fought the 8 Tails. There's nothing you can do about it now." he said.

The Raikage looked at Jugo, Suigetsu, and Sasuke annoyed, lowering his right arm.

 _"He's safe. Nice Suigetsu."_ Karin thought, relieved.

Sasuke stood up from the ground. "I thought I told you not to interfere!" he said.

Jugo and Suigetsu looked at Sasuke.

Suigetsu placed his right hand on his right hip. "Are you kidding me? What's with the attitude, Sasuke?" he asked. "Not that I don't expect it, but we came to help." closing his eyes.

"Shinobi sure fight rough. Unbelievable." the samurai said.

Darui looked at the man on the left side, holding his Cleaver Sword with his right hand. "C. Check and see if they got any other allies hiding around here. I'd weak to have to worry about more popping in." he said.

C looked at Darui. "I'm pretty sure that there was 1 more, but if I focused on that I'll be harder for me to fight with you in the battle." he said.

"We don't need you to fight." Darui said then turned forward. "Boss and I are enough to handle these guys." he said.

C placed his hands together.

Karin sighed in annoyance as she used her Chakra Suppression Technique. _"Even though I can those guys, I have to find Danzo. I'll let them handle it."_ she thought.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Sasuke looked at the Raikage, Darui, and C.

Suigetsu took his right hand off of his right hip. "Karin will probably extinguish her chakra and just lie low. She can do things like that." he said.

Jugo looked at C before he started to walk to the left side. "Seems like the guy in the back is a sensor type ninja." he said, stopping in front of Suigetsu and Sasuke, raising his right arm. "We have no choice but to defeat him." before he started transforming his whole body.

Darui and C became surprised.

Jugo fully transformed, having claw-like finger nails, 6 jet-like boosters on his back, happuri-like skin on his face, spikes on his arms, and a black line on his forehead and his nose. "I'll do it." he said before he took off his cloak with his right hand to reveal the back of his shirt was ripped as chakra fired out of the holes. He smirked as he laughed wickedly. "I'm gonna rip you apart!"

"His change in personality is more surprising than his appearance, y'know." Darui said, sweating a little.

"Focus! He's got unbelievable chakra!" C yelled.

Jugo laughed wickedly again.

Suigetsu smiled. "I can't believe Jugo actually gave into his killer impulses voluntarily this." he said then looked at Sasuke. "What do you think the odds are that he still remembers that we're both on his side." he said then looked forward.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

Jugo raised his arms, smirking. "Now, who's first!" he yelled, blasting chakra out of his back.

Suigetsu closed his eyes as he covered his face with his right arm as Sasuke closed his eyes and turned away from the chakra Jugo was blasting before he stopped blasting. Suigetsu and Sasuke opened their eyes as Suigetsu uncovered his face with his right arm as Sasuke turned forward.

The Raikage cracked his neck before he jumped forward, speeding. "You need to learn your place!" he yelled.

Jugo stopped smirking as the Raikage punched him into the wall with his left fist as he followed him, creating a large hole in the wall and a large cloud of dust came. Suigetsu and Sasuke disappeared.

Karin gasped at the scene.

Darui and C watched as Jugo, who turned the back of his arms into a shield, was struggling against the Raikage, who was making a large hole in his shield and a hole in his upper chest with his left fist. Jugo was grunting in pain.

C sensed that someone was behind him. He turned around to see Suigetsu in the air with his broken Executioner's Blade in his hands as he was going to kill him.

"Gotcha." Suigetsu said, who swung his sword but was stopped when Darui suddenly appeared and blocked his attack with his Cleaver Sword as he was holding it with both hands.

When Suigetsu and Darui landed on the ground C jumped as they started clashing.

"Nice blade ya got there." Suigetsu said.

"Well I'm not giving you mine just because yours is broken." Darui said.

C landed on the ground as he watched the scene of the Raikage and Jugo.

Jugo gasped in in pain as the Raikage finished making the holes on his shields and upper chest. Jugo closed his eyes as blood slid from his mouth.

The Raikage looked up at Sasuke, who standing a few meters away from him on the ceiling as he held up his right index and middle fingers near his face. "Well, that's one down." he said.

Sasuke didn't say anything as he continued to stare at the Raikage.

"I'm no weakling. Mere Sharingan can't take me down." the Raikage said.

 _"Raikage-sama's nerve transmission and reaction speed's are on par with Konoha's Yellow Flash. It's impressive those guys are even doing this well. But Raikage-sama used Lightning Style Chakra to augment his reflexes, not even the Sharingan can keep up. Plus.. there's still."_ he thought.

Jugo created cannons from his back pointed all of them directly at the Raikage.

Raikage looked at Jugo confused.

Jugo opened his eyes. "Die!" he yelled, making yellow spears.

Darui and C looked at the Raikage shocked.

"Boss no!" Darui said.

"At point blank range!" C said.

When the spears were complete, Jugo launched them at the Raikage directly, causing rocks to fly, violent winds, and bright light to appear.

Suigetsu covered his face with his right arm and Darui covered his face with his left arm. Karin closed her eyes at the violent winds.

"Did Jugo get him?!" Suigetsu questioned.

C covered his face with both of his hands. "What?! Raikage-sama hit him and he still survived?!" he questioned then he opened his eyes uncovered his face and gasped as he suddenly saw a shadowed man with the Sharingan. The he was suddenly facing a large purple man in fright before it grabbed him with his right hand. _"This... has to be a Genjutsu... These guys are using each other's attacks to distract us. I can't believe I fell for it. Damn it!"_ he thought as his eyes widened at being engulfed in darkness before he fell down on the ground forward. _"I... I can't.. move."_

The Raikage was gone as well as the explosion, wind, and bright light.

As Darui and Suigetsu were battling, Darui turned to see C laying down on the ground.

"C!" Darui yelled before he turned around forward to see Suigetsu, who had his broken Executioner's Blade in his hands, was landing near him as he swung his sword. Darui dodged Suigetsu's attacks.

Sasuke kneeled down on a nearby balcony as he clutched his left eye with his left hand, grunting a little bit.

Darui dodged Suigetsu's attacks, who was attacking with his Executioner's Blade in his right hand then with both hands, by jumping backwards.

"C! Don't go to sleep on the job! Get up!" Darui yelled.

Jugo came out of the wall, smiling wickedly with his hands out. "Hahahaha! I killed him! I just killed the big guy!" he yelled.

Karin turned and sat down on the ground as she stopped using the Chakra Suppression Technique on herself. _"I guess Jugo can be useful after all."_ she thought then moved her head to the left side a little. _"Alright, they can't detect me now. This is my chance to find Danzo."_ turning her head forward as she closed her eyes, held up her right index, thumb, and middle fingers up, and wrapped her left arm around her legs. She suddenly opened her eyes and gasped as she sensed that the Raikage was alive. She stopped sitting down as she turned around and looked down at the scene, her hands on the balcony.

"Now who's next?! Aha!" Jugo yelled.

The Raikage suddenly appeared on the left side of Jugo and elbowed him with his right elbow before Jugo was flying and crashed into the upper wall. Jugo was defeated as he was stuck in the wall exhausted.

The Raikage lowered his arms and looked up at Jugo before he turned around to see Sasuke, who was holding his Lightning channeled sword with his right hand and looking at him with his Sharingan, standing a few feet away from him.

Sasuke ran over to the Raikage and disappeared before he reappeared behind him and tried to strike him with his sword in his right hand but his came out of his right hand and into the air. Sasuke landed a few meters away from the Raikage, who was facing him, before he made the hand signs of the Chidori with both hands before it activated in his left hand. Sasuke quickly ran over to the Raikage before his sword landed on the ground as the Raikage ran over to him as well.

Sasuke made it to the Raikage. "Chidori!" he yelled.

"Elbow!" the Raikage yelled.

The Raikage yelled as he tried to attack Sasuke with his right arm but Sasuke dodged it. Sasuke attacked the Raikage by ducking and tried to pierce the Raikage's chest with his Chidori by, groaning in annoyance.

The Raikage grabbed Sasuke's waist with both hands, looking at the Chidori. "A thrust attack amplified by lightning to increase it's power and piercing ability..." he said then looked down at Sasuke. "That's just like Kakashi Hatake's Jutsu. I'm impressed that you were actually able to touch me through my Lightning Style Armour. That's some Jutsu you've got there."

Suigetsu and Darui continued clashing their swords together.

"Damn, it didn't work!" Suigetsu said.

"That's right and now Sasuke's a dead man." Darui said.

Karin's eyes widened a little bit. _"No way, so much chakra...!"_ she thought.

When the Raikage picked up Sasuke yelling, Sasuke stopped using his Chidori.

"Liger Bomb!" the Raikage yelled, slamming Sasuke to the ground with both hands, creating a creater and lightning destroying some of the ground as wind blew around them.

"It's over." Darui said.

Suigetsu looked at Sasuke and the Raikage before he looked forward to see Darui, who was running towards him with his lightning channeled Cleaver Sword with both hands, before he gritted his teeth.

Moments later, the wind and lightning stopped blowing around them.

The Samurai looked at the Raikage and Sasuke. "So that's the Raikage's shinobi taijutsu. There's no way Sasuke could've survived that. Guess we didn't need reinforcements after all." he said.

Karin started to sense more darkness coming out of Sasuke as she continued to watch the scene.

The Raikage became shocked as Sasuke wasn't dead and a glowing purple ribcage appeared around him.

Sasuke grunted a little bit as a left hand bone grew out of the ribcage.

The Raikage became annoyed as he punched Sasuke with his left fist but the ribcage protected Sasuke as he landed on his feet a few meters away from him.

Sasuke opened his eyes to reveal that he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.

 _"So that's the Mangekyo Sharingan, huh?"_ the Raikage thought.

Moments later, the wind and lightning stopped blowing around them.

The Samurai looked at the Raikage and Sasuke. "So that's the Raikage's shinobi taijutsu. There's no way Sasuke could've survived that. Guess we didn't need reinforcements after all." he said.

Karin started to sense more darkness coming out of Sasuke as she continued to watch the scene.

The Raikage became shocked as Sasuke wasn't dead and a glowing purple ribcage appeared around him.

Sasuke grunted a little bit as a left hand bone grew out of the ribcage.

The Raikage became annoyed as he punched Sasuke with his left fist but the ribcage protected Sasuke as he landed on his feet a few meters away from him.

Sasuke opened his eyes to reveal that he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.

 _"So that's the Mangekyo Sharingan, huh?"_ the Raikage thought.

The Raikage groaned as he started to increase his chakra, his hair rising up.

Karin turned around and sat down before she hugged her legs, shocked.

Darui landed on the right side of C. "C, are you alright?" he asked.

"Darui. Is your fight finished?" C asked.

"Maybe." Darui said before he helped C up and placed C's right arm over his shoulders. "No one has ever survived the Liger Bomb before, not until right now. And take a look at those bones, what is he?"

"I fell for his genjutsu and lost." C said then looked down at his quivering left hand. "I still don't have full control of my body." then looked back at Darui. "Geniuses like him are extremely rare."

"Sasuke Uchiha. He's a stubborn one." the Samurai said then suddenly noticed 6 other Samurais through a door way. "Reinforcements?"

The 6 Samurais circled around the Raikage and Sasuke.

Sasuke looked at one of the Samurais before he looked back at the Raikage, red veins started to appear on his left eye.

"Hey C. What's with Sasuke's eyes? Don't they look different now?" Darui questioned.

C became surprised. "Is that the Mangekyo Sharingan?!" he asked. _"I get it. That's why Raikage ramped himself up even more. He's going to fight the Mangekyo Sharingan with his Body Flicker Technique."_ he thought.

The Raikage groaned as he increased his chakra again.

Suigetsu was pinned to one of the pillars with Darui's Cleaver Sword to his stomach, no longer having his Executioner's Blade as he slowly started liquifying. "Ya know. Maybe I'm too vulnerable to lightning style. My body is too numb now to liquify properly." he said.

 _"The Raikage's chakra has grown enormously. He's at Tailed Beasts levels."_ Karin thought before she stopped sitting down on the ground again and turned around to see the scene.

"Bring it boy!" the Raikage yelled.

Sasuke's left eye started to bleed before some of it went down his left cheek and landed on the ground.

Everyone watched the Raikage and Sasuke.

"Amaterasu!" Sasuke said.

Sasuke used his left eye to activate his Amaterasu on the Raikage but the Raikage used his Teleportation Jutsu to move to the right side so he wouldn't get caught by the Amaterasu. The black flames appeared on one of the samurais.

One of the samurais fell backwards on the ground as he screamed and moved in agony.

Sasuke moved his head to the left side to look for the Raikage.

Another one of the samurais ran over to fallen samurai. "Put out the flames!" he yelled.

Another samurai moved towards the fallen samurai. "They're not ordinary flames! Don't go near it!" he yelled.

2 of the samurais stopped near the fallen samurai, who continued to scream in agony.

 _"The Amaterasu, the flames that extinguish one's line of sight. It must be it."_ C thought.

The Raikage appeared on the right side of Sasuke. "Lateral Bolt of Pain!" he yelled, using his left arm.

Sasuke placed his black flames on the ribcage to defend himself.

The Raikage held back his left arm.

Karin smiled as she held up her right fist. _"Nice, a shield of black flames. Nothing can match the Raikage's Body Flicker Technique speed if you can't keep up then use a shield that can't be touched. Now he can't just recklessly attack Sasuke."_ she thought.

C became surprised. _"He manipulated the black flames. Changed their chakra form, too. Does this mean that he's even better than Itachi was at controlling the black flames?"_ he thought.

Sasuke turned his head to the right side to look at the Raikage.

"Don't underestimate the Raikage!" the Raikage yelled, using his Lateral Bolt of Pain on Sasuke's ribcage as some of the black flames got on his left arm.

Karin stopped smiling and became shocked when the Raikage hit Sasuke. She suddenly sensed 3 familiar chakras coming towards them.

"Raikage-sama! Don't tell me...!" C yelled.

"Damn. Looks like he's sacrificing his left arm." Darui said.

Sasuke fell a few feet backwards as he coughed up some blood before he covered his left eye with his left hand.

The Raikage jumped up into the air. "You're finished now!" he yelled.

Sasuke activated his right eye.

"Guillotine Drop!" the Raikage yelled, raising his right foot.

The black flames became a barrier around Sasuke's ribcage.

"Inferno Style: Flame Control!" Sasuke said.

Darui and C became shocked.

 _"He's still moving!"_ C thought.

Karin closed her eyes tightly and held up her right index, middle, and thumb to her face. _"Sasuke!"_ she thought.

When the Raikage was about to use his Guillotine Drop on Sasuke, sand suddenly blocked him.

Karin opened her eyes as everyone became surprised.

 _"Sand!"_ the Raikage thought.

 _"This is...!"_ Sasuke thought.

Everyone turned to one of the doorways to see from left to right, Kankuro, now 18 years old in his new usual outfit, a new purple color face paint design that covered a horizontal line through his eyes and mouth and vertical line on his chin, a long sleeved black shirt, long black pants, white tape wrapped around his forearms, red sash wrapped around his waist, black fingerless gloves, a black hood that had the Sunagakure metal plate on the front, white tape wrapped around his lower legs, and black sandals, Gaara, now 16 years old, his hair slightly longer, and in his new usual outfit, a short sleeved black shirt, long beige pants, long dark red coat, 2 grey belts over his coat, a grey vest that had one scrap on his left shoulder that was scrapped to his gourd, and black sandals, and Temari, now 19 years, and in her new usual outfit, a sleeveless black dress that has no collar, mesh armour underneath, a lavender blouse, black fingerless gloves, black arm warmers, black leg guards, black sandals, 2 small brown pouches on her sides, a purple sash wrapped around her waist, a black Sunagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around her forehead, and a medium sized brown scroll on her waist that she uses to carry her large black fan.

Gaara had his arms folded as he was controlling his sand outside of his guord.

The Raikage, who now had some black flames on his left arm, jumped backwards and landed on the left side of Darui and C.

Sasuke, who no longer had his left hand on his left eye but was still closed, sat up on the ground and both hands on the ground and looked at Gaara. "Gaara of the Sand." she said.

Gaara put his arms down as he summoned his sand back to his guord.

Temari took out her fan and opened it with both hands as she looked at the fallen samurai, who was barely standing up. "Wind Scythe Jutsu!" she yelled, waving it at him as she summoned wind.

The wind sliced through the fallen samurai's armour and Kankuro used his chakra strings from his right hand and pulled it off, placing it on the right side of the ground.

Kankuro looked down at the black flamed covered armour. "So these are the Eternal Flames of the Amaterasu huh?" he questioned as he stopped making chakra strings with his right hand before he looked at Sasuke.

Temari placed her fan down and looked at Sasuke.

Karin turned around and sat down. _"I'd better start looking for Danzo while Sasuke battles them."_ she thought, closing her eyes and placed her hands together as she started to sense.

Gaara walked forward. "All you samurai stay back. This is a problem for the shinobi world. There's no need for you samurai to become casualties." he said.

Another samurai came up to the fallen samurai, who had his eyes closed, tradition black hair cut, and in a black robe with light grey linings, brown wooden sandals and was still had the mask on, and held him with both hands. "T-Thank you, Kazekage-dono." he said.

The fallen samurai groaned in pain.

Suigetsu looked at the scene. "What's going on?" he asked.

The Raikage looked at Gaara. "Why'd you interfere Kazekage?!" he asked. "Depending on your answer, I might not let you get away with this!"

Gaara looked at the The Raikage. "If you had continued with your attack like that, more of your body would be burned by the black flames. Besides, I would like to speak to Sasuke Uchiha." he said.

The Raikage grunted before he looked down at his left hand and turned his right hand into a chakra blade then sliced off half of his left, watching it fall to the ground before he stopped using his chakra blade on his right hand.

Darui and C walked over to the Raikage, looking down at the Raikage's now bleeding left arm.

"Boss, your arm!" Darui said.

The Raikage looked at, holding out his left arm. "C, hurry and stop the bleeding! Once you're done, I'm going after Sasuke again." he said.

"Yes, sir." C said before Darui leg him go and he started to use the Mystical Palm Technique on the Raikage's left arm with both hands. _"Sasuke managed to get through Raikage-sama's light style armour and he survived too seriously of the attack."_ he thought before he started to remember the battle between the Raikage and Sasuke. _"His left eye ignites the Amaterasu and his right eye and change the chakra form of the black flames, I'm sure of it."_ then looked at Sasuke. _"Perhaps this Sasuke truly did capture B... Which means that shinobi are still growing and advancing."_

Gaara folded his arms as he looked at Sasuke. "Your eyes are still as they were in the past." he said.

Sasuke started to remember what Gaara said to him years ago.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _3 years ago._

 _Cliff._

 _Gaara, 12 years old and in his old usual outfit, was facing Sasuke, who was 12 years old and in his usual outfit._

 _"As I told you, both of us possess the exact same eyes, eyes that always hunger for power and full hatred as well. Eyes that seek revenge against all those who made you so lonely, eyes that burn to see all of them dead." Gaara said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Sasuke continued to stare at Gaara.

"I have come to realize that making vengeance one's bread of life does not resolve anything. It's not too late for you. Don't withdraw into your own world obsessed with hatred.. or you won't be able to return." Gaara said.

"So? If I were to return, what would be there for me?" Sasuke questioned.

"Your family and clan." Gaara said.

Kankuro looked at Gaara. "Forget it, Gaara. Naruto already failed to convince him." he said then looked forward. "He's just a petty criminal. Fallen down to the level of the Akatsuki.. He's not like you."

Temari looked at Gaara. "Plus the Raikage and others harmed by the Akatsuki won't stay silent. After attacking the 5 Kage Summit, he's wanted internationally." she said then looked to the left side. "Just face it this guy has no future."

Gaara stayed silent for a moment. "Sasuke. You and I are quite alike. We both walk through the darkness of this world. So your eyes should pick up even the faintest glimmer of light. In the past or even at this moment." he said.

Sasuke smirked. "I shut my eyes a long time ago. The things I seek now lie only in the darkness." he said.

Gaara became silent as he closed his eyes.

Kankuro looked at Gaara again. "You're the Kazekage. Don't let your feelings interfere." he said.

Gaara continued to stay silent.

Temari looked at her youngest brother. _"Gaara..."_ she thought.

Sand started to come out of Gaara's guord.

Gaara opened his eyes as a tear came out of his left eye. "Hai. I know." he said running down his face behind before he folded his arms as lots of sand came out of his guord.

Kankuro summoned a puppet that had short mousy red, greyish brown eyes, and had a black hooded cloak on him, while Temari opened her fan again with both hands.

Sasuke summoned the purple ribcage before closed his right eye and both eyes then stood up from the ground as he still had his Mangekyo Sharingan.

...

5 minutes later.

Sasuke used his left eye to summoned the black flames at Gaara but Gaara used his sand to protect him. Sasuke jumped a few feet away.

Sasuke smirked again. "You blocked my Inferno Style well, I'm impressed. Your ultimate defense is in good shape." he said.

A fair skinned woman who looked to be 18 years old had short black hair with bangs, black eyes, and in her usual outfit, a red Iwagakure Forehead Protector wrapped around her forehead, a red shirt that had a long sleeve on the left side and no sleeve on the right side, a brown Iwagakure flak jacket, fishnet stockings, a red skirt, black gloves, and black sandals. She was smirking.

"Wow, amazing." the unknown woman said.

Karin gasped when she suddenly sensed Danzo. _"Found them. Danzo's there, too."_ she thought then opened her eyes as she placed her hands down. _"I've gotta let Sasuke know right away! Except there are very powerful chakras all around us."_

Karin stopped sitting down and placed her hands on the balcony as she looked down at the scene. _"Sasuke has to hurry or we'll never reach Danzo."_ she thought.

Darui ran over to Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara while the Raikage, who was now sitting down, was still being healed by C, who was crouching down on the ground.

"You done yet C?" the Raikage asked.

"Little longer, sir." C said.

Darui made the hand signs of Rat - Tiger - Dog - Snake - Dragon with both hands then stopped on the right side of Kankuro as he held his hands together. "I'll join you Sand guys. The first strikes mine and then you can follow me." he said.

"Got it." Kankuro said.

"Good now Storm Release: Laser Circus!" Darui said, a bright white light coming from his hands.

Kankuro raised both of his hands as he had chakra strings. "Secret Red Technique: Puppet Triad!" he said.

"Cyclone Scythe Jutsu!" Temari said, holding up her fan with both hands.

"Sand Shower Barrage!" Gaara said.

Darui, Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara launched their jutsus at Sasuke who did nothing but watch. The large explosion happened as wind blew in the room.

 _"Sasuke!"_ Karin thought then she suddenly sensed that Sasuke's chakra was darker now. _"What is this?!"_ the wind stopped.

The smoke disappeared reveal that Sasuke was inside of a large upper skeleton with horns and glowing yellow eyes. Everyone stared at him in shock.

"Gaara. I've got an ultimate defense even greater than yours." Sasuke said.

"Is that thing the shield he used to guard against my attacks?" the Raikage asked.

 _"His chakra is the same as when he used that Genjutsu."_ C thought.

Suigetsu smiled. "Uh oh. This doesn't look good." he said.

Jugo slowly opened his right eye, grunting in pain. _"What this what he wanted to test?"_ he thought.

Karin became worried. _"Sasuke's chakra.. it's so different now. He's no longer the Sasuke I once knew. It's too cold."_ she thought.

The samurais were hiding behind some of the pillars.

"What on earth is that?" one of the samurais said.

"The power of darkness." Gaara said.

"A power that only those who've awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan in both eyes can achieve. This is the third power, the Susano'o." Sasuke said.

Sasuke's Susano'o made noises.

C stopped healing the Raikage, who now held his left arm with his right hand.

Sasuke picked up his sword from off of the ground with his right hand.

"Susano'o. Unreal." Gaara said.

"So that's the Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan..." Temari said.

"Sasuke. He always has something else hidden up his sleeve. Everytime." Kankuro said.

Sasuke smirked even more.

C became cautious when he saw Sasuke smirked again, he looked at Darui, Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara quickly. "Darui! You Sand folk! Fall back for a moment!" he yelled.

Darui, Kankuro, Temari, and Gaara became cautious as well.

Sasuke cracked his neck before he used his Susano'o's left hand sword to swing and break the pillars, creating wind.

Gaara covered them with his sand as they put their hands to their faces.

The pillars were now collapsing. Karin turned around and sat down and closed her eyes then placed her hands over her head.

Temari looked up at the ceiling as she uncovered her face with her left hand. _"He's aiming for the pillars!"_ she thought.

As the pillars were collapsing, the ceiling was starting too.

Many of looked up at the ceiling.

"The pillars are...!" one of the samurais yelled.

"The ceiling's gonna collapse!" another one of the samurais said.

The ceiling and pillars started to collapse together. The samurais started to die in pain as the ceilings and pillars were crushing them.

Suigetsu looked up. "Woah! What the hell he's doing?" he asked yelling.

Jugo slowly fell off the wall and fell to the ground.

Most of the ground was now covered in rubble.

Sasuke was being protected by his Susano'o.

Karin uncovered her head with her hands as and opened her eyes gasping as the balcony collapsed, she was now falling to the ground.

Sasuke waved his sword before his Susano'o's right hand caught Karin and tossed her to the left side of a doorway. Sasuke put his sword back in his holster with his right hand.

Karin slowly sat up and grunted in pain before her eyes widened and she gasped at Sasuke who had his back turned.

"Have you pinpointed Danzo's location?" Sasuke asked, his Susano'o disappeared.

Karin put her left hand on her glasses and fixed them. "Y-yeah but.." she said.

Sasuke turned his head to the right side to look at Karin. "Then take me there." he said.

Karin took her left hand off of her glasses before she looked at the left side sadly. "But what about Jugo and Suigetsu?" she asked. "Both of their chakras are still-"

Sasuke turned around to face Karin. "Forget them! Danzo comes first." he said, walking over to Karin.

Karin watched as Sasuke walked towards her before he stopped on the right side of her.

Sasuke looked down at Karin. "Hurry up and take me to him." he said.

"Yeah, alright..." Karin said. _"What's happened to you, Sasuke?"_ she thought.

Sasuke turned his eyes into the Sharingan before he held out his right hand to Karin.

Karin grabbed his right hand with her right hand before stood up from the ground and released Sasuke's right hand. Karin turned around and ran into the hallway as Sasuke followed her from behind.

...

2 minutes later.

Sasuke and Karin continued to run through many hallways to find Danzo. Karin sensed that their getting closer to Danzo by the second.

"We're almost there! Just a few more hallways." Karin said.

"What are the directions?" Sasuke asked.

"Up ahead we need to make a left and 2 rights then another left." Karin said.

Sasuke almost immediately ran past Karin after the information she gave him.

 _"Or better yet, you go on ahead.."_ Karin thought, sighing.

...

Moments later.

One of the Rooms.

A large room that had brown wooden walls that had seats and desks on them, purple floors. A brown U shaped table that from left to right, had large light beige banners that had the kanji for Lighting, Water, Wind, Fire, and Earth in the middle. And a brown desk in the middle.

From right to left, a boy who looked to be 19 years old, had fair skin, short tufty blue hair, black eyes, spiky teeth, in his usual outfit, black square rimmed glasses connected to black and grey ear protectors, light blue long sleeved pin-striped shirt, black and white rolled camouflage pants, a black holster wrapped around his upper chest that had the Kirigakure metal plate in the front, long black socks, 2 black shuriken holsters with white tape wrapped around both of his legs, and black sandals, holding Hiramekarei, a black wide flat curved indentations curved around the blade with 2 yellow handles that had straps, was holding it with both hands as he was kneeling on a desk, a fair skinned woman that was 31 years old but looked to be in her 20's, had green eyes, thigh length auburn hair that was styled into a herringbone pattern at the back, a top-knot tied with a dark blue band, and with four bangs at the front, two bangs are short, with one covering her right eye, and two are long, crossing each other on her bust, just below her chin, in her usual outfit, a long-sleeved, dark blue dress that falls just below the knees that was closed at the front with a zipper and is kept open on the front-right side from the waist down as it only covered up the upper part of her arms and the underside of her breasts, a mesh armour that covers slightly more of her upper body than her dress underneath, a dark blue skirt, mesh leggings reaching down over her knees, a white belt wrapped around her waist with a grey pouch attached to the back on the left along with grey high-heeled sandals, grey shin-guards reaching up over her knees, dark blue nail polish on her fingers and toes, and fuchsia lipstick on her lips, sitting down on a brown chair, and a man looked to be 46 years old had light brown skin, short light blue hair was styled in a moused-up manner, his left eye was blue and his right eye was covered with a black eye-patch, under which he concealed the Byakugan that he obtained from a Hyūga clan member he defeated, 2 brown talisman in each ear with the kanji for a humble form of "to hear" (承, _shō_ ) written on them twice on each side, in his usual outfit the standard striped, grey suit, with a green haori that had white trimmings that stop halfway down, over them, long beige pants, dark brown belt wrapped around his waist, 2 medium sized pouches, and dark blue sandals.

From left to right, the auburn haired man, was standing up, Danzo was sitting down, and the short black haired man was standing up.

Left to right, a light brown man was 79 years old, very short, a white triangular beard and a moustache that has angular corners, a big red nose and thick eyebrows, the top of his head is completely bald, although, he has long white hair on the lower-half of his head which is styled in a traditional chonmage hair cut, the back of which is tied with a yellow ribbon into a topknot, a green and yellow coat with a red collar, underneath the traditional Iwagakure outfit consistent of a light green version of Iwagakure's flak jacket, mesh armour both his sleeves of his shirt, but kept the single lapel on his right side, and brown sandals, was sitting down on a chair, and a fair skin obese man that was 20 years old, had shoulder length brown hair that was spiked at the back, black eyes, plump nose, a small brown beard on his chin, in his usual outfit, a red bandanna wrapped around his head that had a Iwagakure metal plate on it, long sleeved red shirt, yellow scarf wrapped around his neck, long red pants, red lapel on his right side, mesh armour on his lower legs, brown Iwagakure flak jacket, and black sandals, was standing up.

And from left to right, in the middle of the table, a man that looked to be 46 years old, fair skin, bald, pupiless violet eyes but his right eye was permanently closed, cross shaped scar that extends across his forehead and his lower right eye, a blue dragon tattoo on the left side of his head, in his usual outfit, a long sleeved purple kimono-like outfit that had grey trimmings, a yellow and beige sash wrapped around his waist, and brown sandals, a man that looked to be 65 years old, had light brown skin, black eyes, long grey hair that almost reached his waist, wrinkles on his cheeks, grey goatee, a grey mustache, in his usual outfit, a long purple kimono-like outfit with cream colored trimmings, green sash wrapped around his waist, a bandaged sword behind him, and purple sandals, and a man that looked to be 41 years old, had brown skin, black hair that was in a traditional chonmage hairstyle, thick black eyebrows, a prominent scar above his right eye, black eyes, in his usual outfit, a long sleeved dark grey kimono-like outfit with light grey trimmings, a beige sash wrapped around his waist, a purple scarf wrapped around his neck, and brown sandals, were standing up.

The one with the eye patch activated his Byakugan, sensing Sasuke. "He's here!" he said then unactivated his Byakugan.

Suddenly the banners were cut one by one before they all fell to the ground.

The young auburn haired man sensed around for Sasuke until he looked up at the ceiling. "Above us!" he said.

Everyone looked up to see Sasuke was standing upside down on the ceiling and was holding his sword with his right hand. Sasuke was looking down at Danzo, who opened his eyes and looked up at him. But Sasuke stopped looking at Danzo when the old samurai jumped up and took out his sword with both hands and tried to attack Sasuke, who channeled lightning style into his blade and deflected it.

"I shall fight him." the old samurai said.

Karin came into one of the doorways and saw Danzo and his 2 subordinates escaped from the room, she pointed her left index finger and raised her right fist. "Sasuke! Danzo ran away!" she said before she lowered her hands and ran towards the door Danzo and his 2 subordinates escaped from then stopped.

The guy with the eye patch hopped over the desk and ran towards the hole in the wall then stopped and turned around.

Sasuke and the old samurai pulled away as the samurai landed on the ground.

The man with the eye patch raised his left hand. "Mizukage-sama! Chojuro! Stay here! I'm gonna go after Danzo! The 5 Kage Summit hasn't come to an end yet." he said.

"Very well but don't go overboard." Lady Mizukage said.

"Ma'am, I'll leave the Akatsuki criminals to you!" the man with the eye patch said before he turned around and left the room.

"My back can't take this. Feel free to rampage as you please." the very short old man said.

"Sounds like a plan." the obese man said.

Sasuke stopped channelling his blade and landed on the ground next to the hole in the wall. "Karin! Come!" he said.

Sasuke and Karin started to run out of the room until they sensed something coming at them. They moved out of the way and lava started to cover the hole. Karin backed away a little before she and Sasuke looked behind them. Sasuke put his sword back in his holster with his right hand.

Chojuro fixed his glasses with his left hand, smiling. _"There it is! Lady Mizukage's Kekkei Genkai! The Lava Style Jutsu."_ he thought, taking his left hand off of his glasses as he stopped smiling.

The Lady Mizukage placed her left hand on her lips. "You Akatsuki have traveled all over the Hidden Mist and manipulated the Fourth Mizukage..." she said, wiping the lava from her mouth before she placed her left hand down, closing her eyes. "And yet, I can tell the Uchiha clan has handsome men , now that I have a good look at you."

Sasuke closed his eyes and turned around before he opened his eyes again to reveal his Mangekyo Sharingan. "Stay out of my way!" he said.

The Lady Mizukage smiled as she began to stand up. "To bad, such a fine man. What a waste..." she said then opened her eyes. "But at least, I get to give you a kiss that will melt you away."

Karin became annoyed and angry that the Mizukage was flirting with her boyfriend. "What a k-k-kiss?!" she asked yelling, pointing her right index finger at the Mizukage. "Who and what are you-you witch?! And quit making eyes at him you old hag!" then put her right hand down.

The Lady Mizukage became annoyed.

Chojuro looked at Lady Mizukage. _"Lady Mizukage's getting fired up...! But no matter what happens I must protect her!"_ he thought looked at Sasuke. _"However, this is the man who defeated Zabuza-san! Do I really have a chance at against someone like that...?"_ then held his Hiramekarei with both hands. _"No I can do this! I'm going to try my best..! Or at least, I hope I can..."_

Lady Mizukage made the hand signs of Dog - Boar - Tiger - Ox - Rat - Bird with both hands. "Tsuchikage-sama, if you're not going to participate then please just keep your head down." she said.

Lord Tsuchikage smirked before he and his subordinate jumped on the ceiling.

Lady Mizukage spit lots of lava out of her mouth as it hovering over Sasuke and Karin.

Karin's eyes widened. _"Not that move again?!"_ she thought.

Sasuke activated his Susano'o ribcage to protect himself while Karin jumped forward to avoid the lava. The lava floor and chairs, which started melt. Karin closed her eyes as she landed on the ground of the U shaped table.

"Just keep my head down the nerve of her." the Tsuchikage said.

The Mizukage jumped forward. "Chojuro!" she said then landed on the ground.

Chojuro jumped up. "Hai, ma'am!" he said, unbandaging his Hiramekarei. "Hiramekarei, release!" he yelled, making a hammer out of chakra before attacked Sasuke, who held his hands to his chest.

The Hiramekarei Hammer hit Sasuke, who went through the wall and hit the other wall before he landed on the ground. More lava covered the wall again.

Chojuro landed back on the table with his Hiramekarei in his left hand while the Mizukage ran out of the room.

...

In the Hallway, Sasuke had his eyes closed and he was crouching down on the floor with his hands on the ground, panting.

 _"Every cell in my body hurts. So this is the Susano'o's side effect... If you use it for a long period of time, this is what happens... It's not even in it's complete form, there's so much pain. How bad was it for Itachi?"_ Sasuke thought then raised his head and opened his eyes when he noticed that the Mizukage was standing a few meters away from him as a wall of lava was behind her.

Lady Mizukage held up her right arm. "And now it's just the 2 of us." she said, lowering her right arm.

Karin rolled on her stomach and started to crouched down and backed away gasped as she saw the White Zetsu lying lifeless, not sensing anymore chakra. _"Is he really dead...? I thought it was weird that his chakra flowed stopped, but.. you never can tell with these Akatsuki guys."_ she thought.

Lady Mizukage smiled. "That wall next to you." she said.

Sasuke looked at the left side to see the lava covered hole.

"I sealed up that doorway when I launched my first attack against earlier." Lady Mizukage said.

Sasuke remembered what happened before he looked forward at the Mizukage.

"This room is now completely sealed off. There's nowhere to run." Lady Mizukage said then put her hands together. "I can use 3 Chakra Natures: Fire, Water, and Earth. So I actually possess 2 Kekkei Genkai." then opened her mouth. _"Evapor Style: Solid Fog Jutsu."_ she thought.

Karin started looking for Sasuke. _"Where's Sasuke?!"_ she thought, placing her hands on the desk as she looked at the lava covered wall. _"He's on the other side of that wall."_

Mist came out of Lady Mizukage's mouth, covering the entire room.

Sasuke noticed that his Susano'o ribcage was starting to melt. _"It's melting?!"_ he thought, before he yelled as he activated more of his Susano'o, standing up. But Sasuke suddenly had this pain, crouching down on the ground and his right hand on the ground as he started coughing up blood as his left hand covered his face.

Karin suddenly sensed that Sasuke's chakra was decreasing. _"This is bad! Sasuke's chakra is getting weaker! He always pushes himself too far!"_ she thought.

"It seems you got roughed up pretty badly by Raikage-sama and his guards earlier." Lady Mizukage said.

Sasuke removed his left hand from his mouth and placed his right hand on the ground as he looked up at Lady Mizukage with his right eye closed, panting.

"I'm sorry, but I have no intention of saving you. I'll admit to you that it does leave quite a pain in my heart to see such a handsome man melt away." Lady Mizukage said then raised her right index finger. "But you must die."

Sasuke not only noticed his Susano'o ribcage was melting again but his left hand burning as he raised it. _"So now it's Corrosive Acid Mist."_ he thought then lowered his left arm, opening his right eye.

Lady Mizukage looked down at her right arm to see that white spongy things started to appear. "What's this?" she asked as the white spongy things grew even more.

Sasuke closed his left eye and he continued panting as he noticed the white spongy things growing on the Mizukage.

Chojuro and others became shocked when white spongy things started growing around their upper bodies.

"What?!" Chojuro asked surprised.

"What is it?" the obese man asked.

Karin noticed this before she looked down at White Zetsu. _"This chakra...!"_ she thought.

Lady Mizukage held up her arms. "Wait, t-this is the Akatsuki from before." she said as White Zetsu heads started growing.

 _"This is that man's..."_ Sasuke thought.

 _"He's..."_ Lady Mizukage thought, blowing at one of the White Zetsu clones head, which burst apart. _"Stealing my chakra..."_ as the White Zetsu clone head grew back.

"He's absorbing our chakra to grow?!" the purple scarf samurai questioned.

"But when did he do this?" the old samurai asked.

The white spongy things completely covered their bodies as they couldn't move.

"It's the Time Lapse Jutsu you set before the Raikage took you down isn't it?" the Tsuchikage asked, looking at one of the White Zetsu clone head.

"Damn you!" Lady Mizukage said, looking at the White Zetsu while she used her mist to melt him.

The White Zetsu clone head started to move towards Sasuke and when he made it towards Sasuke he wrapped himself around him.

 _"Damn it! What now?!"_ Sasuke thought closing his eyes for a moment before he opened them again and raised his right hand to notice that his chakra was increasing. "My chakra.. it's regenerating!" he said.

...

Moments later.

Karin sensed that Sasuke's chakra was increasing a little bit.

"Come on, get off!" Chojuro said, trying to remove the White Zetsu clone off of him with his right hand but fell down when Sasuke's Susano'o's left hand broke the lava covered wall.

Everyone looked to see smoke and Sasuke, who was exhaustedly and slowly walking back in and grunting in pain.

"Sasuke! Are you alright?!" Karin asked, yelling.

The White Zetsu clone on Lady Mizukage was completely off of her as it was melted on the ground around her.

Lady Mizukage started to pant. "This mist will spread to where the others are... I have to change the pH." she said before she started to breathe in the mist.

"Seems like she's having trouble with him..." Lord Tsuchikage said then looked up at the obese man. "Akatsuchi, let's say we join in the fun?"

Akatsuchi looked down at Lord Tsuchikage. "Sure!" he said before he summoned a brown rock Golem from his mouth as it started to eat the White Zetsu clone with both hands.

 _"Earth Style: Waited Boulder Jutsu!"_ Lord Tsuchikage thought before the White Zetsu clone started to turn into brown rock.

When the Golem was done eating and the White Zetsu clone completely, the rocks started to slip off of their bodies.

Karin stood up from the floor and jumped on to the table to get to the other side and landed on the ground a few feet away from Sasuke, crouching down.

The rocks fell to the ground with a loud thud as Akatsuchi landed on the ground and Lord Tsuchikage started to fly.

Sasuke, who was crouching down, had his left hand on his left eye as he turned to Lord Tsuchikage.

Lord Tsuchikage laughed for a moment. "So you're the brat that took down Deidara huh...?" he questioned before he put his hands together. "Well I have no grudge against you, but many shinobi want you dead! So goodbye." pulling his hands away to reveal a small clear cube with a bright white cylinder inside.

Sasuke started to feel even more pain.

Karin looked up at Sasuke, worried. _"Oh no!"_ she thought.

Lord Tsuchikage made the cube bigger and placed it around Sasuke, who took his left hand off of his left eye and was standing up. "Particle Style: Atomic Dismantling Jutsu!" he said as the cube turned bright white for a moment as an explosion happened.

The bright light disappeared as it was replaced by grey smoke for a moment before it became clear again.

Karin became sad when she didn't see Sasuke in the cube. "Sasuke!" she yelled.

Lord Tsuchikage put his hands down as the cube and cylinder disappeared as some of the wall and floor was gone. Some of the rumble landed on the ground.

Karin was shocked as she didn't sense Sasuke anymore. "Sasuke's chakra is... gone! All gone... No.. it can't be... no..." she said as she started to cry at the loss of Sasuke.

"Hai, that's right. It's gone because I dissembled his body to a near mulicular level." he said then looked at Karin. "And you'll be next girl."

Karin multiple chakras coming to the room but she didn't care anymore because her Sasuke died right before her eyes.

"You!" Chojuro said, trying to get the White Zetsu clone off of him but stopped when he heard something outside.

Moments later, the Raikage, Gaara, Kankuro, Temari, C, and Darui ran into the room and stopped.

Raikage, who now had a dark green scarf wrapped around his half cut off left arm, looked around the room before looked at Tsuchikage. "Where is Sasuke? Where the hell is he?!" he asked, yelling.

Gaara looked at Kankuro.

"Right." Kankuro said before he walked forward a little and held up his hands as he made chakra strings and connected them to all of the people who had White Zetsu clones on them and tore them off and placed them on the ground.

Lady Mizukage came back in the room.

Chojuro, who was crouching down on the ground, looked up at Kankuro. "Thanks, I really appreciate it." he said before he stood up.

"We're all in your debt." the old samurai said.

Everyone, except Tsuchikage and Karin, were standing up.

"Tsuchikage, where is Sasuke?!" Raikage asked.

Tsuchikage smirked. "I turned that brat into dust." he said.

The Raikage became angry. "How dare you! I wanted to take him down! You had no right to do that!" he yelled.

"And you'll still get to have a go at it." an unknown man said. "So stop your whining, Raikage."

Everyone turned to the upper desks to see Tobi appear and stood up on the desk facing them as he was holding an unconscious Sasuke on his right shoulder.

"My name is Madara Uchiha." Tobi said.

Karin looked at Sasuke, sensing that he was real, before she smiled, relieved. "Sasuke!" she said.

"I am here to explain something to you all, and once you understand it, I'll ask you a question." Tobi said.

"What is it?" Raikage asked.

"It's about my plan, Project Tsuki No Me." Tobi said.

The old samurai took out his sword with his right hand and stabbed White Zetsu with it before he looked back at Tobi.

"It seems that C was right, the Hokage has indeed fled." Raikage said.

"Yep and all thanks to Sasuke." Tsuchikage said.

Tobi gasped when Raikage used his Lightning Release Chakra Mode on himself before he jumped up and ran at them with his right fist but he went right through Tobi.

"What?" Raikage questioned before he crashed into the wall. He got out of the wall and looked at Tobi as he raised his right arm to his face.

Tobi started to used his Transportation Technique on Sasuke with his right eye as he released him.

"I couldn't care less for Akatsuki's plans! I'll never agree to it!" Raikage said.

Karin stopped smiling as she became shocked. _"Sasuke is...!"_ she thought.

Tobi stopped using his Transportation Technique when Sasuke was completely gone.

"Return Sasuke right now!" Raikage yelled.

Tobi looked at the Raikage. "Then listen to what I have to say. Depending on your answer, I might." he said.

Tsuchikage flew over to the Raikage. "Just calm down Raikage. Let's hear him out and take it from there." he said.

The Raikage gritted his teeth.

Tobi jumped and landed behind Karin.

Karin gasped.

"Go. Heal Sasuke." Tobi said before he used his Transportation Technique on Karin, who screamed."

Karin was crouching down and gasped to see that Sasuke was lying down on his back and the place they were in was dark and endless void with different light grey rectangular prisms, which they were on a large one.

Karin looked around. _"Where am I?"_ she thought then looked down at Sasuke. _"I... almost lost you."_ then unzipped Sasuke's shirt with her left hand before she placed both of her hands on Sasuke's chest and used her Mystical Palm Technique on him. _"How are we going to get out of here?"_

...

1 hour later.

Karin continued to use her Mystical Palm Technique on Sasuke, who was still unconscious. She sensed that Sasuke's chakra was restored. Earlier, Karin wiped the blood off of Sasuke's face with her right hand.

 _"Here I am all alone in the dark with Sasuke, taking care of him while resisting every urge in my body to not kiss him."_ Karin thought. "Just hurry up and get well already!" she said before she wiped her forehead and fixed her glasses with her left hand then placed it down.

Sasuke suddenly opened his eyes and looked up at Karin.

Karin stopped using her Mystical Palm Technique on Sasuke and she gasped in surprise as Sasuke's upper half stood up.

Karin hugged Sasuke with both arms. "You scared me half to death. A-Are you alright Sasuke?" she asked then pulled away a little to look at Sasuke, who was zipping his shirt up half way with his right hand as he ignored her. _"And he's still being cold to me. He'll probably never change..."_ she thought.

Sasuke made his right hand into a fist a few times before he looked at Karin.

Karin smiled at Sasuke. _"But, in spite of it..."_ she thought before she released him.

Karin stopped smiling as she and Sasuke looked forward to see Tobi, who lost his right arm, standing a few feet away from them.

"Let us out of here!" Sasuke said.

"Alright don't threat. That's just what I'm about to do. I even have a present waiting for you outside."

Karin became confused as Tobi walked over to her and Sasuke. Sasuke stood up before Tobi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and used his Transportation Technique on them to leave the unknown place.

...

Land of Iron.

Samurai Bridge.

Day Time.

A light brown rocky area that had a bridge on an abyss. A bridge that was built out of grey stones and features a large gate at one end, somewhat resembling a torii, emblazoned with the kanji for _samurai_ (侍). On top of the gate is a large stone statue of a sheathed sword with weights hanging on both ends.

A hole suddenly appeared as from right to left, Sasuke, who was standing, Karin, who was crouching down, and Tobi came out from it. Tobi unactivated his Mangekyo Sharingan as he stopped using his Transportation Technique. The 3 of them looked to see Danzo, who was taking large gold bands off of his right arm with his left hand.

Sasuke closed his eyes and opened them again as he activated his Sharingan.

"So you're here, Sasuke Uchiha." Danzo said, looking at Sasuke.

Karin stood up from the ground as she wanted to fight too.

"You should step back a bit." Tobi said, looking at Karin.

Karin looked at Tobi.

"If you get in the way, you'll die." Tobi said.

Karin became annoyed at Tobi but obeyed because she didn't know what kind of Jutsus Danzo would use before she ran over to the left side and stopped by a pillar.

Tobi jumped back until he landed on the large rock sword and sat down as he watched the scene below.

Danzo looked down at his right arm. "This is just perfect." he said, taking the last golden band off as it fell to the ground before he started to unbandage his right arm with his left hand.

Sasuke waited patiently as Danzo took the bandages off of his right arm with his left hand.

Karin placed her right hand on the pillar. _"Danzo... I wonder what kind of jutsus he uses."_ she thought.

"Listen Sasuke and Madara, I'm going to take both your Sharingan and add them to my collection!" Danzo said, finished unbandaging his grey prosthetic right arm as 10 Sharingans were moving around.

Sasuke's eyes widened when he saw the 10 Sharingans on Danzo's right arm.

Karin became surprised as she fixed her glasses with her right hand. _"Woah! What's up with his right arm? He's got multiple Sharingan embedded in it! How gross!"_ she thought before putting her right arm down.

Danzo threw his bandages on the ground with his left hand.

Sasuke's eyes stopped widenering. "How did you get those eyes in your right arm?" he asked.

Danzo closed his eyes. "Well I picked them up here and there in various ways. It's a long story." he said.

"Any explanation will probably make me angrier me anyway..." Sasuke said before closed his eyes and leaned his head down a little bit. "Forget it then, I've already decided to kill you. Before that, though, I have one thing that I'd like to ask you."

Danzo opened his eyes and looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke opened his eyes and stopped leaning his head down as he looked at Danzo. "Is it true that Itachi slaughtered half Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan because he was following orders you and the other upper echelons of Konoha gave him?" he asked.

Danzo made 3 hand signs with both hands before he ran at Sasuke, who wasn't moving, and tried to punch him in the stomach with his right fist but became surprised when Sasuke activated his Susano'o ribcage to protect himself.

"This is..." Danzo questioned before he looked up at Sasuke, who activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. He backed away from Sasuke but he was immediately caught in the right fist of Sasuke's Susano'o's right hand.

"Oh, so that's Sasuke's..." Tobi said.

"I see. So this is the power they call Susano'o..." Danzo questioned.

Sasuke didn't say anything as Danzo grunted in pain before he became quiet.

Sasuke looked up at Danzo. "I'll ask one more time! Is it true that Itachi eliminated half the Uchiha clan and also half the Uzumaki clan following orders that were given to him by you and the Hidden Leaf elders?" he asked.

Danzo remained quiet.

Sasuke became angry. "I asked you if it's true?!" he asked, yelling.

Danzo grunted in pain again as Sasuke's Susano'o's right fist gripped him even more, blood coming out of his mouth and closed his eyes.

Sasuke raised both of his fists. "Answer me now!" he said.

"I... I never thought he would turn out... to be that kind of man..." Danzo said.

Sasuke lowered his arms.

Danzo opened his eyes. "Curse him! It seems as though Itachi told you everything before he died didn't he?!" he asked.

Sasuke and Karin's eyes widened.

"It seems, he wasn't fully able to go through with it." Danzo said.

Sasuke started to remember what Tobi and Itachi said to him over the years before he started to say something. "You answer me!" he yelled angrily.

"I didn't think... Itachi... was the kind of man who would reveal the secrets that had been entrusted to him..." Danzo said.

"That means... that it's true then...!" Sasuke said.

Sasuke's Susano'o started to have an upper body and flesh on his right hand and right arm.

Karin watched as Sasuke's Susano'o started to grow more spine as she closed her eyes and covered her head with both hands from the darkness before she uncovered her head and opened her eyes.

Tobi grinned for a moment.

"Self-sacrifice, that's what impitizes a shinobi, never seeing the light of day! Toiling in the shadows, that's the way of a true shinobi! And not just Itachi, countless shinobi have died the same way! This world cannot function on ideal and pleasantries! No, it's entirely thanks to people like him that peace has been maintained! People like you who've misconstrued Itachi's will wouldn't understand! Still Itachi revealing such a secret to you makes him a traitor to the Leaf!" Danzo said.

Sasuke became angry again and made his right hand into a fist, making his Susano'o's right fist crush Danzo.

Blood dripped from Sasuke's Susano'o's right fist as Danzo was dead.

Sasuke made his right fist into a hand again. "Don't speak any further about Itachi." he said.

Karin suddenly saw Danzo behind Sasuke and sensed that it was the real him. _"What?!"_ she thought.

"Very well, then..." Danzo said.

Sasuke's eyes widened in surprise.

"Next, let's battle with our eyes instead." Danzo said before he took out a kunai from his left sleeve with his left hand and went to attack Sasuke.

Sasuke turned around to look at Danzo. Sasuke's Susano'o ungripped his right fist as the clone Danzo disappeared.

Danzo's kunai broke when it hit Sasuke's Susano'o.

 _"What's going on? He should be dead by now! I only sensed one chakra with Danzo's signature. That's definitely not a clone!"_ Karin thought.

"Just as I thought, Susano'o. That splendid armour to protect yourself with." Danzo said.

Sasuke's Susano'o crushed Danzo with his right fist and Sasuke covered his face with both hands as his Susano'o made a crater.

Karin gasped and looked up at the far right to see Danzo was unharmed and standing on another pillar.

"And the power in it's attack is incredible..." Danzo said.

Sasuke uncovered his face with his hands as he looked up at Danzo.

 _"He escaped again. But that wasn't a clone either then is it.. genjutsu.."_ Karin thought before she looked at Sasuke and sensed his chakra. _"I don't sense any disturbance in Sasuke's chakra... and my chakras stable too. If neither of us is trapped in a genjutsu..."_ then looked up at Danzo. _"Then, what sort of jutsu is this?"_

Sasuke's Susano'o risen up to the pillar tried to punch Danzo with his right fist but Danzo dodged it and started hopping from broken piece of rock from broken piece of rock as Sasuke's Susano'o attacked him with his right fist again. Danzo landed on the bridge as Sasuke walked closer and his Susano'o tried to attack Danzo again with his right fist but Danzo jumped up into the air.

Karin gasped and moved a little bit as Sasuke's Susano'o made a crater again before she crouched down on the ground.

Sasuke jumped up as he went to his Susano'o's head and closed his left eye. "Amaterasu!" he said, opening his left eye as it started to bleed.

Danzo grunted in pain and closed his eyes as black flames covered his body and he fell to the ground dead.

Sasuke crouched down on the ground and his Susano'o disappeared as he started panting in exhaustion a little bit.

Karin closed her eyes as she started rubbing her forehead with her right hand in relief.

"First Susano'o and now Amaterasu... That's overdoing it if he's trying to test Danzo's power. He's going to tire himself out." Tobi said.

Karin quickly opened her eyes and placed her right arm down and saw Danzo was a few feet behind Sasuke.

Danzo made the hand signs of Rat - Rabbit - Dog signs with both hands before he started to breath in air.

"Behind you, Sasuke! Look out!" Karin yelled at Sasuke.

Sasuke turned to the right side to look at Danzo.

 _"Wind Style: Vacuum Bullets!"_ Danzo thought, shooting air bullets at Sasuke. Some of the bullets hit the broken rocks.

Sasuke jumped up into the air and noticed that one of the air bullets hit his upper right arm as he started to bleed before he grabbed his right arm with his left hand as he started to fall off of the bridge and into the abyss.

"Sasuke!" Karin yelled.

Sasuke used the blood from his wound and made Summoning hand sign with both hands. "Summoning Jutsu!" he said, a puff of white smoke appearing.

Garuda, a large brown hawk that had some dark brown feathers on his tail and wings, yellow beak that was a little red, orange eyes, yellow legs, and black on it's eyes, was flying in the air as Sasuke was crouching down on his back.

Karin sighed in relief as she stopped crouching down on the ground.

"Hmm, a new summoning technique. When did you get that?" Tobi asked.

Sasuke opened his left eye a little bit, panting.

"The Amaterasu. Haven't seen that in awhile. You're Itachi's younger brother that's for sure." Danzo said.

Karin looked carefully at Danzo's right arm until she noticed one of the 10 eyes has closed.

"You've taken over Itachi's Jutsu." Danzo said.

"I told you not to say another word about him!" Sasuke yelled.

"2 brothers, with the same eyes and powers, and yet the way you see world could not differ anymore." Danzo said.

Sasuke became annoyed.

"Just admit it. The truth about Itachi isn't important to you at all. Instead you just want to hurt people in some misguided attempt to rid yourself of your hatred." Danzo said then placed his right hand over his face. "All you're doing is making the sacrifice of the Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan meaningless."

Sasuke became angry. "You have no right to even talk about them!" he yelled as Garuda flew over to Danzo, grabbing his sword with his right hand.

Danzo made hand signs with both hands before he breathed in more air. _"Wind Style: Vacuum Blast!"_ he thought, a wind blade coming from his mouth as he tried to hit Sasuke.

Sasuke jumped off of Garuda's back and headed towards Danzo.

Danzo blew on to the ground and created dust so he could hide from Sasuke.

Sasuke went into the dust a sliced it and landed on the ground and looked around to find Danzo. Sasuke suddenly saw a wind powered shuriken coming towards him and he quickly dodged it by dodging backflips and stopped as he held up his sword.

Danzo had a wind powered shuriken in his left hand and pulled out another kunai with his right hand and blew on on it as it turned into a wind powered shuriken before he threw both of them at Sasuke, who grabbed one of them with his sword and used the shuriken to block the other shuriken as it went into the sky. Garuda made a screech as he went after the wind powered shuriken.

Sasuke swung one of the wind powered shuriken with his sword with both hands.

Danzo made another wind powered shuriken with his right hand and used it to block the shuriken Sasuke threw at him. One of the shurikens sliced off a piece of one of the pillars, making Danzo dodge and run until he made it towards Sasuke, who jumped up into the air and tried to slice him but Danzo grabbed Sasuke's neck with his right hand, making Sasuke choke.

"Sasuke!" Karin yelled.

Tobi gasped.

Garuda came back and threw the shuriken at Danzo as it sliced his right arm freeing Sasuke, who immediately cut off Danzo's upper body.

Karin watched as Danzo's right arm fell to the ground and fixed her glasses with her right hand and noticed another eye close. _"What's going on?"_ she thought, noticing the right arm disappear. She turned around and held her right hand near her chest to see Danzo standing on pillar. _"No way!"_

"Just give up." Danzo said.

Sasuke glared at Danzo for a moment as the wind blew in his face before his eyes widened.

Danzo noticed this as crows came from Sasuke's body and noticed someone behind him to see Itachi, in his usual outfit and had his Mangekyo Sharingan. "What? But how?" he asked. "Itachi."

Danzo stepped back a little as Itachi stepped forward.

Itachi's left eye started to bleed. "Die... Amaterasu!" he said.

The black flames were now on Danzo's body.

Sasuke ran towards Danzo as he finished casting the Genjutsu on him.

Danzo closed his eyes as most of the Sharingans on his right arm were examining the black flames. "I have to give you credit for placing me under a genjutsu." he said.

Sasuke was about to stab Danzo with his sword in both hands as he was a few feet behind him but suddenly he couldn't move.

The black flames, crows, and Itachi disappeared as the Genjutsu was over.

"But..." Danzo said.

Sasuke became surprised as he tried to move but couldn't.

Karin continued to watch the scene above. "Sasuke! Now's your chance! Why did you stop?!" she asked, yelling.

Red markings appeared all over Sasuke's body before they turned black.

"But yours is still a far cry from Itachi's, with his masterful Tsukuyomi, he was able to freely manipulate time within the dream scape." Danzo said.

Sasuke continued to struggle.

"A curse mark that paralyzes the body. He must've placed it on Sasuke back then." Tobi said, remembering.

Karin immediately knew what was going on as the black markings appeared. _"Sasuke? You can't move?"_ she thought before she looked down at the ground for a moment then looked up and ran towards Danzo and Sasuke.

Karin jumped on to the pillar and ran towards Danzo.

Danzo tried to kick Karin with his left foot but Karin moved to the right and raised her right fist.

"Take this!" Karin said before she used her Chakra Enhanced Strength on Danzo, who grunted in pain as he fell off the pillar and landed on the ground. She lowered her right fist before she turned around and ran towards Sasuke. "Sasuke!" then stopped next to him as she examined the markings and held up her hands. "Don't worry, I can release you from this curse." moving her hands towards his right arm but stopped when she suddenly sensed Danzo next to her. She turned to see Danzo before he kicked her with his left foot.

Karin gasped in pain as she was send flying into lower part of the other pillar. The rocks were everywhere as dust covered the air. _"What? I attacked and he recovered quickly?"_ she thought, her eyes closed.

 _"That one is very strong considering that she's Minato's niece and Tsunade's student. I'll deal with her later."_ Danzo thought.

"Sticking with Taijutsu, eh? Looks like he wants to preserve chakra." Tobi questioned.

Danzo put his hands together. _"Release!"_ he thought.

Karin crouched down as she opened her eyes and looked up. _"The flow of Danzo's chakra has changed! What's he up to?"_ she thought.

Danzo lowered his hands as he pulled them apart and opened his eyes as he looked over at Tobi. _"If Sasuke knows the truth about Itachi then the Akatsuki must know as well. I guess it's impossible to conceal what really happened any longer."_ he thought then turned around to look at Sasuke.

Danzo took Sasuke's sword from him with his left hand and held it with his right hand. "But why...? Why did you ever believe that it was necessary to save the life of such trash, Itachi?" he asked himself.

Sasuke continued to struggle.

"No Sasuke!" Karin yelled, trying to stand up but couldn't and grunted in pain.

Tobi was now crouching down.

Danzo held the sword up. "Take a good look, Itachi. Look at the pathetic state he's in." he said, moving the sword a little so Sasuke can see his reflection before he raised it. "This boy... is one of your ultimate mistakes without a doubt." then moved the sword to cut Sasuke's head.

"Sasuke!" Karin yelled.

Tobi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan and started to use his Transportation Technique.

Sasuke closed his eyes as he started to remember what Tobi said to him about Itachi.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"He couldn't kill.. all of his clan members and Uzumaki clan, especially his little brother. He nearly killed every shred of feeling in his heart in order to slaughter half of those 2 clans for the sake of his Village... But he especially just couldn't bring himself to kill you. Do you understand what that means? To him your life was even more precious than the Village." Tobi said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Danzo suddenly stopped when he saw that a purple aura surrounded Sasuke before he was blown away by Sasuke, who summoned the top half of his Susano'o, as he dropped his sword.

Tobi unactivated his Mangekyo Sharingan and placed it to the Sharingan again as he stopped using his Transportation Technique.

Karin looked at Sasuke in worry.

Sasuke's Susano'o upgraded as it now had skin, a purple bow in his left hand and a purple arrow in his right hand. Sasuke raised his fists before he yelled as the markings from his body disappeared and he stopped yelling as he lowered his arms. Sasuke opened his eyes to reveal his Mangekyo Sharingan before he turned around to look up at Danzo, who was in the air.

 _"He broke free of the curse mark. Is that the Susano'o? It's almost completely different from before."_ Danzo thought before he breathed in some air and started blowing himself away.

Karin was now crouching down on the bridge, sensing Sasuke's chakra. _"This is Sasuke... His chakra.. he's no longer my Sasuke from before."_ she thought, looking up at Sasuke.

Tobi sat back down. "Good. His rage has matured and gained in power, and his body is naturally responding to it. This is really going quite well indeed. Looks like he doesn't need my help after all." he said.

Sasuke's Susano'o aimed his arrow at Danzo, who crouched down on the end of the bridge where Tobi was at, before he shot it at him.

Danzo put his hands together. "So he was aiming for my landing... I can't weave the signs in time! I have no choice." he said, pulling his hands apart as the upper part of his right arm turned into a tree.

The arrow hit the tree as it missed Danzo.

Danzo looked at the arrow. _"Looks like I was able to knock it off course."_ he thought.

Karin became shocked at watching Danzo. _"That technique just decreased Danzo's chakra in a heartbeat! But why dodged Susano'o's attack especially at such a cost? I thought the jutsu he's been using was supposed to make him immortal..."_ she thought then remembered what Danzo was doing early. _"The jutsu he released earlier must've been protecting him."_

"That was Wood Style. Now it all makes sense... with that many Sharingan, I knew there had to be some kind of secret to allow someone who wasn't an Uchiha to be able to use them. Damn you, Orochimaru. You seem to have been keeping in close contact with Danzo." Tobi said.

Sasuke started panting again.

Danzo removed his right arm from the tree he made.

"He had the cells of the First Hokage, Hashirama implanted in him to enhance his physical energy. No wonder he was able to control so many Sharingans." Tobi said.

Sasuke watched as Danzo looked down at the Sharingans on his right arm, still panting.

Karin realized something. _"No, he can die! If he hadn't dodged that attack he would've died! That's why he's consumed so much so far!"_ she thought then looked up at Sasuke and raised her left hand to her face. "Sasuke, listen! That's the real Danzo but the jutsu that makes him invincible is undone right now and that means he's vulnerable!" she said.

 _"So that woman's a sensor type ninja? Looks like she's caught on to me but it's too late!"_ Danzo thought before he made 3 hand signs.

Sasuke noticed this before he used his Susano'o to shot another arrow at Danzo.

Danzo put his hands together as he started another Genjutsu, which Karin immediately sensed. Danzo was hit by the arrow.

Sasuke panted more in exhaustion.

Karin held up both of her fists as she smiled. "Yes, got him!" she said before she stopped smiling and lowered her hands as she looked down. _"Wait... No. I was wrong. As soon as that bastard Danzo weaved those signs, the feel of his chakra shifted just slightly! He launched that other Jutsu! I'm probably the only one whose able to pick that up. That means Susano'o's attack just then probably wasn't in time. Damn it!"_ she thought before she looked up at the scene.

Danzo disappeared from the arrow and reappeared a few feet forward unharmed before looked down at his right arm to see the remaining Sharingans, which Sasuke saw again.

Karin put her left hand on her glasses as she looked at Danzo's right arm. _"He's healed again thanks to that technique, but 3 of the eyes are still closed."_ she thought.

"As far as I can tell, there are 10 Sharingans on that arm. In addition to the First Hokage's cells. Uchiha's power and Hashirama's power, it looks like he's planning to try to control the Nine-Tails. So he's after Naruto too." Tobi said.

Karin took her left hand off of her glasses as she watched another Sharingan closed on Danzo's right arm. _"Danzo's chakra dropped again just now! As I thought, this technique has many risks to it. That must be why he needed to undo it before..."_ she thought, remembering what Danzo did earlier. _"In order to preserve his chakra! And another thing... It's certain that those Sharingans on his right arm are definitely linked to his Jutsu. I just know it. There's some secret to those eyes that keeps closing."_

"There's no mistake. This is the Visual Jutsu forbidden even among the Uchiha, the Izunagi. I certainly didn't explain to see it here of all places." Tobi said.

Sasuke suddenly closed his eyes as he coughed up.

Karin looked up at Sasuke, worried. "Sasuke!" she said before she looked down and clutched her lower cloak with her left hand. _"Don't panic! I have to figure out Danzo's jutsu. The only thing that I can do right now is analyze Danzo's technique!"_ she thought then looked at Danzo.

Danzo ran straight towards Sasuke.

Sasuke watched Danzo for a moment with his left eye closed before he used his Susano'o to shoot another arrow, which hit Danzo.

"The Izunagi... where for a few seconds span of time anything disavantageous to the wielder, like damage or death can be rewritten as a dream..." Tobi said.

Danzo disappeared before reappearing unharmed a few feet backwards and ran after Sasuke again.

Sasuke panted again.

Danzo made hand signs with both hands before he stopped and breathed in some air and exhaled as he created a giant ball of air and hit Sasuke's Susano'o with it as it disappeared.

Sasuke covered his face with both arms as he panted more.

"And anything at vantageous such as the Wilder's attacks are kept as part of reality... an ultimate genjutsu cast upon ones self.. the blurres the boarder between fantasy and reality... And the eye that uses Izunagi loses it's light, never to open again." Tobi said.

Danzo looked down at his right arm again to see that another Sharingan has closed.

"But with that many eyes... the duration of the Izunagi varies with each user. He wanted to extend that power no matter what it took so he became Orochimaru's lab rat." Tobi said.

Karin looked at Danzo very closely.

Danzo looked up at Tobi. _"That's Madara, it doesn't appear that he's going to participate, but... I can't be taken off guard. I must keep enough power reserved to fight him. It'll be some time before my right eye recovers from using it during the Summit... However, fighting the Susano'o won't be easy either.. that arrow attack is very difficult to dodge. I can't undo the Izunagi yet."_ he thought then looked down at his right arm before he placed his right index finger in his wound on his upper left arm. _"I have to finish things this minute."_ then placed his right index finger on his left hand. "Summoning Jutsu." a puff of smoke came before a large dark orange elephantine chimera that had white bandages wrapped around his head and grey metal plates at the end of it's trunk, was on the other end of the bridge.

The elephantine chimera roared as the bridge moved a little. Karin carefully stood up.

Danzo jumped on to the left side of the bridge before he ran forward before the elephantine chimera opened it's mouth as it powerfully started sucking things into it.

Sasuke's Susano'o held himself in place so Sasuke wouldn't be sucked in. Sasuke held his arms up.

"That summoning it's the Baku, the monster that devours nightmares it's a lot larger than I imagined." Tobi said.

Karin moved to avoid being sucked in as her back was against the pillar. _"I can't let Danzo out of my sight! No matter what happens!"_ she thought.

Sasuke looked at the left side as he knew Danzo was a few meters away from him.

Danzo jumped up on to the pillar. _"Now Susano'o won't be able to move and I'll ogmint the Baku's already impressive sucksion power with even more force."_ he thought weaving the Rat - Snake - Horse - Dog signs with both hands as he held his breathe. "Wind Style: Vacuum Blast Barrage!" he yelled, wind coming out of his mouth as it hit the back of Sasuke's Susano'o was ripped open to reveal the spine.

Danzo started running towards Sasuke. _"The weak spot in the Susano'o is right there!"_ he thought.

Sasuke looked forward before he made hand signs for the Fireball Jutsu with both hands. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he said, letting the Baku absorb the fireball.

The Baku immediately closed his mouth in pain as it's mouth was on fire.

Sasuke turned around to face Danzo, who stopped running and jumped into the air. Danzo looked to the left side to see Sasuke's Susano'o right fist was coming towards him. Sasuke's Susano'o punched Danzo with his right fist as Danzo crashed into the other pillar and fell to the ground on his back.

The Baku roared in pain.

"Using a fire style technique, huh? You made good use of the wind being inhaled, Sasuke." Tobi questioned.

The Baku disappeared.

Sasuke panted in exhaustion and coughed up blood as he was now crouching down on the pillar on his hands. Sasuke's Susano'o's skin disappeared as it was barely appearing.

Karin continued to look at Danzo's right arm. _"53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60.."_ she thought as she watch another Sharingan on Danzo's right arm closed. _"Those eyes... one shuts every 60 seconds and Danzo's chakra keeps dropping rapidly all the wild. Which means that right arm of his can be used to measure the duration of action of his weird jutsu."_ watching Danzo stand up on the ground again. _"Just 4 left, about 240 seconds or 4 minutes if the time limit of that jutsu. From what I can tell, while his jutsu's active it allows his attacks to be successful but makes Sasuke's attacks ineffective. If that's the way this jutsu works, Danzo's gotta be desperate to take Sasuke down while the jutsu is still up and running. Even a mutual strike would be a win to Danzo."_ then stepped forward from the pillar as she looked up at Sasuke. "Sasuke! I think I'm starting to get his jutsu! Are you listening to me?!" she asked, yelling.

"When all 10 of the eyes you have on your right arm have closed, your jutsu will be undone isn't that right?" Sasuke questioned panting, looking down at Danzo.

"You knew...? You knew about the Izunagi?" Danzo asked, looking up at Sasuke.

"As I suspected!" Sasuke said before he jumped off the pillar.

"You tricked it out of me! Why you drafty brat!" Danzo said.

"No! You fool! Don't engage him!" Karin yelled.

Danzo blasted wind at Sasuke, who landed on the ground, with his right arm.

Karin crouched down on the ground as her hands were on the ground as well.

Sasuke's Susano'o punched Danzo with his right fist.

Another Sharingan closed as Danzo disappeared.

"Stop Sasuke! You should just retreat for now! You need to draw out the fight!" Karin yelled.

Sasuke ignored Karin.

"But that would be pointless. For an in that case, Danzo will just undo the Izunagi, if that happens Sasuke would be an overwhelming disadvantage since he's already used up so much of his strength." Tobi said.

Sasuke crouched down on the ground as he took his left wrist warmer off with his right hand. He made his Susano'o disappear. Sasuke placed his right hand on his summoning scroll on his left arm.

Danzo landed a few feet behind Sasuke with a kunai in his right hand and jumped up into the air and was about to throw his kunai at Sasuke but Sasuke turned around and threw 3 shurikens at Danzo with his right hand.

When the 3 shurikens hit Danzo, he disappeared as another Sharingan closed and reappeared a few feet backwards in the air.

"Sasuke is pressing him with the super fast, super strong Susano'o to force Danzo to continue using the Izunagi and thus use it up. Sasuke has long known that this battle will be won by whoever lasts the other..." Tobi said.

Danzo appeared behind Sasuke, who turned to the left side and jumped away from Danzo. Danzo looked at his last remaining Sharingan on his right arm before he looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke activated his Chidori with his left hand as Danzo blew on his kunai to make a Wind Style: Vacuum Blade.

"He's putting his remaining strength into a chakra blade. This is the deciding moment." Tobi said.

Sasuke landed on the ground. "How many Uchihas did you have to kill to get that right arm of yours?!" he asked, running at Danzo.

Danzo landed on the ground. "It was all thanks to Itachi!" he said, running towards Sasuke.

"You made him do it!" Sasuke yelled.

When Danzo and Sasuke made it towards each other, they stabbed one another.

Tobi and Karin watched for a moment in silence as Danzo and Sasuke panted. Birds started fly away.

Karin started sensing the real Danzo near Sasuke.

Danzo smirked.

"Well, it seems that this is the extent of Sasuke's power." Tobi said.

Karin's eyes widened slightly.

Sasuke looked at Danzo.

"You where too hasty. My last eye is still open. Go to Itachi, you need a lecture for all the good it'll do you." Danzo said as he started to pull back. "I win, Sasuke."

Karin stopped widenering her eyes as she became serious. _"What's going on? I feel... wait that's..."_ she thought.

"You may think that you've seen right through my Izunagi but-" Danzo said but stopped smirking as he felt a large amount of pain, his eyes widened. _"What?! What's the meaning of this...?!"_ he thought before coughed up some blood. _"Why won't the Izunagi activate?"_

Sasuke looked at Danzo with his right Mangekyo Sharingan, panting.

"Danzo, you were right. Sasuke's genjutsu is nowhere near as refined as Itachi's." Tobi said.

The genjutsu disappeared as Danzo's last Sharingan was closed.

Sasuke closed his eyes as he smirked, still panting.

Danzo looked at Sasuke, annoyed. "Why you insolent boy..." he said before he moved away from Sasuke.

"You're the one who's going to see Itachi." Sasuke said, inactivating his Chidori and put his arms down as he stopped smirking.

Danzo fell to the ground on his stomach as he tried to get up a few times.

Sasuke opened his right eye again and raised his left hand, panting more.

 _"Ah hah! Just as I thought, this one's the real Danzo!"_ Karin thought.

Danzo yelled as he tried to charge at Sasuke but fell back on the ground and dropped his kunai.

"It's a far cry from Itachi's Tsukuyomi, in which he could freely manipulate time within a genjutsu. Although, as short and weak as it may be in comparison, it's still a matter of how he utilizes it." Tobi said.

Danzo tried to get up again but couldn't.

"With Izunagi a Sharingan is cast away once the jutsu's been exhausted. One eye can activate and maintain the jutsu for roughly 60 seconds. However... Sasuke's relentless attacks might've appeared to be suicidal but they were intended to completely shut down all of Danzo's Sharingans one by one.. Sasuke knew exactly what he was doing... Before Danzo and Sasuke exchanged blows just then every Sharingan on Danzo's right arm had already shut. Sasuke's an Uchiha, and a shinobi who possesses the Mangekyo Sharingan.. his power of observation is still greater than yours, Danzo. Faster than you could realize, Sasuke has placed a genjutsu on you.. making it look like the last eye on your right arm was still open. You were concerned about the in exactly nature of how long the Izunagi would last, so you kept checking the Sharingans on your right arm. Sasuke noticed that... he wanted to make you felt that the Izunagi would last longer and it only took a sutle change. He'd already confirmed that he could place you under a genjutsu, even for just an instant. Sasuke seeved this opportunity.. because you possess the Sharingan, you underestimated how he'd use it in battle. Your arrogance has lead to your defeat." Tobi said.

Danzo held his right arm with his left hand, groaning in pain.

Sasuke lowered his left arm and looked down at Danzo, panting. "Now that's battling with your eyes... Never mock the Uchiha!" he said.

"Even if Danzo was unable to use Shisui's eye, you did well to push him this far, Sasuke... Looks like I'll be able to take Shisui's eye soon. The foundation should've stayed hidden underground." Tobi said.

Danzo's right arm started to twitch as he groaned.

Sasuke groaned in pain before he sat down, exhausted and placed his left hand on the ground.

Karin stood up as she ran towards Sasuke, worried. "I'm coming, Sasuke!" she said.

Sasuke unzipped his shirt a little with his left hand.

Karin crouched down on the ground on the right side of Sasuke, holding out her left arm to Sasuke. "Are you alright? Here, hurry up and bite me!" she said worried, sliding her left sleeve up with her right hand.

Sasuke grabbed Karin's left arm with his left hand before he closed his eyes and bit down on Karin's left arm.

Karin moaned a little, blushing as she started transferring some of her chakra to Sasuke.

Tobi stood up. "It was the right choice bringing that woman along. She has strength and power. I see now why Sasuke chose her to be apart of his team." he said.

Danzo panted even more.

Sasuke stopped panting and became quiet as he started healing.

Danzo groaned in pain as his right arm was growing, opening his eyes. _"I can't believe it. How could I lose to such a brat?! I cannot go down here or die yet!"_ he thought before his right arm started turning into a large tree.

Sasuke and Karin looked up at the scene.

 _"No! At this rate, I'll be taken over by the First Hokage's cells!"_ Danzo thought before teared away from the tree as he longer had a right arm.

"Seems he's having a difficult time controlling his chakra now that he's close to death... Hashirama's power is certainly not easy to manage." Tobi said.

Sasuke released Karin's left arm before he and Karin stood up from the ground and faced Danzo.

Danzo stood up straight, panting.

"Unbelievable! This guy just won't give up!" Karin said.

Danzo took the bandages off of his head with his left hand, revealing a Sharingan in his right eye socket. "No, not yet. Now we'll have a real battle of the eyes!" he said.

"The Visual Prowess in his right eye has returned. I see, so that was his plan. He was covering with the Izunagi until Shisui's eye recuperated." Tobi said.

Sasuke activated his Chidori with his left hand before he ran towards Danzo.

Danzo quickly ran towards Karin, who knew Danzo's intentions stood still as she made herself bait.

Sasuke stopped and turned around to see Danzo stood behind Karin and held her neck with his left arm. Karin closed her eyes.

"Shisui's Visual Prowess... I see. Danzo's debating whether to use it for genjutsu or sacrifice it for the Izunagi." Tobi said.

Sasuke unactivated his Mangekyo Sharingan and turned them back into charcoal black.

"You use your visual prowess too much." Danzo said.

 _"This guy is really pathetic..."_ Karin thought, annoyed.

 _"I can't use Sasuke anymore. Madara's the one I need to place under my genjutsu and manipulate, I can't waste time my wound is too deep."_ Danzo thought.

"Now Sasuke, what will you do?" Tobi questioned.

"I'm surprised you preach self-sacrifice, yet end up taking a hostage." Sasuke said.

"It's not but I consider my life too precious, but for the Leaf and the whole Shinobi world I simply cannot afford to die here today! No matter what the means, I must survive for I will be the one who changed the Shinobi world and this woman's just the sacrifice to that cause!" Danzo said.

Sasuke's left eye started to bleed again as some of it dripped from the left side of his face.

Karin opened her eyes. "Do you even shut up?" she asked.

Danzo became confused.

Karin quickly elbowed Danzo in his stomach, who released his left arm on her neck in pain, before she turned around and grabbed Danzo's left arm with both hands to hold him in place. She looked at Sasuke seriously. "Sasuke, now!" she said.

Sasuke turned his Chidori into a long blade and stabbed Danzo in the chest.

Danzo grunted in pain. _"He pierced my vital organs...!"_ he thought.

Tobi laughed a little. "That's what I like to see." he said.

Sasuke smirked.

Karin released her hands from Danzo's left arm before she placed them down. "I knew you would do that when you ran towards me and I faked it you bastard." she said.

Danzo started bleeding from his mouth. "You.. bitch..." he said, panting.

"One down... soon the rest, Niisan." Sasuke said.

"You didn't have enough time for the Izunagi did you, Danzo?" Tobi questioned.

Sasuke unactivated his Chidori with his left hand before he lowered it, having the Mangekyo Sharingan on his left eye.

After a few moments, Danzo turned around and started to slowly run away from them on the bridge.

Karin was about to go after him until Sasuke said something.

"Karin." Sasuke said.

Karin looked to see Sasuke, who was walking forward after Danzo.

"Stay here. I'll take care of Danzo." Sasuke said.

Karin wanted to but she couldn't disobey Sasuke. "H-hai..." she said.

Karin watched as Sasuke walked past her and after Danzo.

Danzo panted as he continued to slowly run away but Sasuke was a few meters away from him.

When Danzo almost made it to the other end of the bridge, Tobi suddenly appeared in front of Danzo, almost immediately stopped along with Sasuke.

"Danzo... I'll be taking Shisui's eye now." Tobi said.

Sasuke stopped smirking as he suddenly remembered something years ago, he became serious. _"He was the one who took Shisui's eye?!"_ he thought.

Danzo remembered something from his past for a moment. "For the sake of the shinobi world and for the sake of Konoha, I cannot allow you 2 to continue to live!" he yelled before he grabbed his shirt with his left hand and pulled it off to reveal he had rectangular and square black markings all over his chest.

Tobi gasped in shock. "It's a reverse tetra gram ssealing jutsu! Sasuke, get away from Danzo!" he said, disappearing into ground.

Sasuke backed away and disappeared into the air.

Black liquid poured from Danzo's body as the black markings appeared in the air around him.

Karin backed away a little when she saw what Danzo was doing.

A small black circular spear appeared before it became huge and destroyed mostly the half of the other bridge.

Karin covered her face with both hands when a burst of wind came and uncovered her face when it stopped, lowering her hands as she looked at the damage done to the bridge.

Karin became surprised. _"What kind of jutsu did he use...?"_ she thought.

...

10 minutes later.

Karin was standing under the large tree under the bridge as she watched from left to right to see Sasuke and Tobi, who were standing on the other part of the broken bridge as they were looking down at the now dead Danzo as he laid down on his back on the lower part of the broken bridge.

A few minutes ago, Karin sensed that Danzo had died.

 _"What are they talking about?"_ Karin thought.

"That was a narrow escape." Tobi said, remembering what Danzo did before he died. "It was collateral damage sealing jutsu, it drags you into his corpse sealing you inside. He probably had it set to activate at the moment of his death."

Sasuke suddenly heard a screech, he looked up to see a brown hawk flying away in the sky.

"That was close." Tobi said.

"Now that's done. It's on to the Hidden Leaf." Sasuke said.

"The Hidden Leaf huh?" Tobi questioned before he jumped over to where Danzo was. "I'm going to take his eye now." then turned to Sasuke. "Sasuke, don't be so hasty. Go back to the hideout and rest."

Sasuke looked down at Tobi.

"You over used your visual prowess.. eventually you won't be able to keep it up. Your eyes are losing their light. What can you do by yourself in the Hidden Leaf anyway?" Tobi asked. "Remember, in order to achieve your goals, patience is also important."

Sasuke didn't say anything as he continued to look at Tobi.

Tobi looked down at Danzo before he crouched down on the left side and placed his left hand on Danzo's left arm and he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan before he used his Transportation Technique on Danzo until he was gone. He turned his right eye back into the Sharingan and stood up on the ground.

Tobi looked up at Sasuke. "Sasuke, I'm going to give you one piece of advice..." he said then cracked his neck a little. "That woman... she's strong and powerful but there's a chance she'll try to stop you or tell the Konoha ninjas... If you don't need her anymore, make sure you finish her off. She knows too much about us."

"What do you mean us? Since when do you assume that I've joined up with you?" Sasuke asked.

"Hm. Well nevermind. We'll meet again." Tobi said then turned around before he used his Transportation Technique on himself to disappear.

Karin sensed that Danzo was gone, she sighed. "At least the mission is complete." she said then turned around. She suddenly saw Sasuke's sword laying on the ground a few feet away from her before she walked over to it.

Sasuke looked up into the air as he thought about what Tobi said.

Karin picked up Sasuke's sword with both hands as she stared down at it. _"He's really going to destroy the Village.. our home."_ she thought.

Sasuke stopped looking up at the sky and jumped to the other side of the bridge then walked towards Karin as he didn't know what he was going to do to her when he was near her.

 _"Sasuke's not the Sasuke I knew when I was a kid... back then he was kind..."_ Karin thought as she started to remember something years ago.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _3 years ago._

 _Day Time._

 _Chunin Exams._

 _Karin, 12 years old and in her old usual outfit, suddenly heard a loud thud and turned around to see a large brown bear in front of her, growling at her. She started panting as she was scared of the large bear then closed her eyes as she stopped. "Hey! Where is everyone?!" she asked yelling, opening her eyes and her mouth a little._

 _The large bear came closer to Karin as it continued to growl at her, drooling a little. When the bear tried to bite Karin, she quickly moved to the left and ran away from it only to trip on a small tree root and fell to the ground with a this. Karin grunted in pain as she closed her eyes and her glasses fell a few feet away from her, still holding on to the scroll with her left hand and her right hand was now covering her head._

 _As the bear was about to go after Karin and eat her, it suddenly stopped when Sasuke came out of nowhere and hit it in the head with his right leg before he did his Lions Barrage on its head._

 _"Lions Barrage!" Sasuke yelled._

 _Karin heard the loud before she opened her right eye and gasped a little then she opened her left eye to see a blurry figure on the unconcious large bear._

 _"Karin, are you alright?!" Sasuke asked worried._

 _Karin blinked a few times as she recognized the voice, she stopped using the Chakra Suppression Technique. She gasped softly as she completely knew who it was._

 _"S-sasuke.." Karin said softly._

 _Karin couldn't see Sasuke clearly because she didn't have her glasses on her. She looked down at the ground before she released the scroll from her left hand and got off of the ground a little so searched the ground with both hands for her glasses._

 _"My glasses." Karin said as she continued to look for it._

 _Sasuke jumped off of the large bear's head and walked over to where Karin's glasses landed and picked them up with both of his hands. He walked over to her and crouched down in front of her, who stopped looking for her glasses and looked up at him, seeing his blurry face._

 _"Here they are, hold still." Sasuke said as carefully put the glasses back on Karin's face._

 _Karin fixed her glasses with her left hand and started to see Sasuke, 12 years old and in his usual outfit, clearly, she saw him smile warmly at her._

 _"That's better." Sasuke said._

 _Karin back a little as she blushed softly at him, but Sasuke moved towards her and hugged her protectively, his head on the right side of her shoulder._

 _"That was a close, if I haven't heard your voice that bear would have eaten you." Sasuke said worried._

 _Karin's eyes widened as she blushed even more. "Th-thank you, S-sasuke..." she said shyly._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Karin sighed again. _"What am I going to do?"_ she thought before she suddenly looked up as she suddenly sensed a familiar chakra coming towards them. _"What?! Why is she here...?! How did she found us?!"_ she thought.

Karin suddenly turned around to see that Sasuke was standing a few feet away from her. "Sasuke..." she said, walking towards Sasuke.

Sasuke stayed silent.

Karin stopped in front of Sasuke. "Here's your sword... I'll put it back for you." she said before she placed Sasuke's sword back in it's holster with her left hand.

Karin looked up at Sasuke, seeing the blood on the left side of his face. She reached into her right cloak pocket with her right hand and pulled out a napkin and tried to wipe the blood off of his face but Sasuke grabbed her right hand with his left hand, making Karin a little surprised as she dropped the napkin.

Sasuke decided not to kill Karin as she was very important to him and couldn't even if he wanted to. He leaned towards her.

"Sasuke I sen-" Karin said but was cut off when Sasuke suddenly kissed her on the lips. She felt that Sasuke had his left hand on her waist as he pulled her closer to him

Karin wanted to close her like Sasuke did but couldn't because she sensed a familiar chakra coming towards them. As the chakra was almost hear, Karin pulled away to look at Sasuke, who opened his eyes and stared at her.

"Sasuke! She's here." Karin said.

"Who?" Sasuke questioned.

A few moments later, Sakura, in her usual outfit and a cream colored cloak with red stripes at the bottom, appeared on the other side of the broken bridge.

"No, Sasuke-kun!" Sakura yelled.

Sasuke and Karin looked to see Sakura.

Sasuke took his left hand off of Karin's waist. "What a surprise." he said.

 _"He's completely different from before... Is this really Sasuke-kun? And Karin's with him too."_ Sakura thought, worried.

"For what purpose did you come before us, Sakura?" Sasuke questioned.

 _"What's Sakura up to?"_ Karin thought, suspicious.

"Look Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said.

Sasuke and Karin stayed silent.

"I'm here because I've deserted the Hidden Leaf! I'm coming with you!" Sakura said.

Karin's eyes widened a little bit because she sensed that Sakura was lying, she started to realize why Sakura was here. _"She's here to kill Sasuke...!"_ she thought then she suddenly sensed another familiar chakra coming towards them. _"And him as well..."_

Sakura jumped on the other side of the broken bridge and crouched a few meters away from Sasuke and Karin before she stood up.

"What's in it for you to join us?" Sasuke questioned. "Just what are you plotting?"

"I'm not plotting anything at all. Ever since you left the Hidden Leaf Village, I-I just keep finding myself regretting not going with you!" Sakura said.

Karin sensed that Sakura was lying again but she knew that Sakura still had feelings for Sasuke. _"Even after me and Sasuke became a couple, Sakura still loves him..."_ she thought.

Sakura held her right fist to her chest. "Look I'll do anything that you want me to. I'm tired of regrets!" she said.

"Do you know what I really want?" Sasuke asked.

"Don't you understand! I don't care what it is! I'll do whatever you say!" Sakura said.

"To destroy the Leaf!" Sasuke said.

Sakura became shocked when she heard what Sasuke said.

"That is what I want." Sasuke said.

"Would you really really betray Konoha for my sake?" Sasuke asked.

Sakura looked at Karin for a moment before she looked back at Sasuke. "Hai. If that's what you want from me." she said, putting her right arm down.

Even though she knows that Sakura is no match for Sasuke, Karin couldn't let Sakura try to do to anything to Sasuke.

Karin stepped forward a little bit and leaned to whisper into Sasuke's left ear. "Sasuke no. Sakura's lying to you. She has no intention of joining us. And by the way she's lying, I think she's here to kill you." she said.

Karin backed away from Sasuke a little bit when she saw him nodded his head once.

"Alright. Then don't you prove it to me. I want you to show Karin all of your supplies right now." Sasuke said, stepping aside on the right side to show more of Karin. "Do that and I'll accept that you're serious."

Sakura looked at Karin again. "Have you guys ran out?" she asked.

"Not yet, but you can never be too careful." Karin said, lying.

 _"How can Karin stand up him after what Sasuke-kun's planning...?"_ Sakura thought before she walked over to Sasuke and Karin.

Karin sensed that the other familiar chakra was coming closer.

Sakura stopped in front of Karin before she looked down at the ground.

"What's the matter, Sakura? You can't show her?" Sasuke asked.

 _"Karin will immediately know about my poison laced kunai. But... If I just.. I just stab Sasuke quickly right now then it will all be over."_ Sakura thought.

Sasuke walked behind Sakura as he raised his left hand.

"Sasuke. Do you really have to do that to her?" Karin asked Sasuke.

Sasuke activated his Chidori with his left hand as Sakura's eyes widened in shock. Karin sensed the familiar chakra was near them.

Sakura turned around to see Sasuke was about to kill with his Chidori, gasping.

Kakashi, in his usual outfit and cream colored cloak that had 2 red stripes at the bottom, suddenly appeared and grabbed Sasuke's left arm with his right hand as he stopped him from killing Sakura.

Sasuke and Sakura became surprised at Kakashi's appearance.

 _"He really tried to kill her!"_ Kakashi thought. "How far you've fallen, Sasuke!" he said.

Sasuke tried to kick Kakashi with his left leg but Kakashi dodged by jumping up before kicked Sasuke with his left leg.

Sasuke backed away from Kakashi and Sakura and faced them. Karin jumped forward to Sasuke and landed on his right side before she turned around and faced Kakashi and Sakura as well.

Kakashi crouched down as he pulled out some wire with his left hand and threw it at Sasuke as he wrapped it around him.

Sasuke closed his eyes and grunted in pain before a puff of smoke appeared and disappeared to reveal a log before Sasuke from the sky and landed on the ground.

Kakashi dropped the wire as Sakura stood behind him.

Sasuke smirked. "Hm. It's just one after another." he said.

"Sakura... you planned to kill Sasuke on your own, didn't you?" Kakashi questioned.

Sakura looked at the ground sadly.

"There's no need to for you to carry such a heavy burden on your own. After all, it was my cowardice that drove you all apart. When I was the leader of Team 7." Kakashi said then stood up from the ground. "Sakura, I once tried to put you at ease by telling you something irresponsible."

Sakura remembered what Kakashi told her 3 years ago at the Hospital roof.

"I must have been trying to convince myself of that as well. I'm sorry for having been such a lousy sensei." Kakashi said.

Sakura looked at Kakashi. "But you're not..." she said.

"Karin, you should return with us." Kakashi said.

"I'm not going anywhere with you 2." Karin said.

Kakashi sighed before he looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke... I've told you this before and I don't like to repeat myself, but I'll say this once more. Believe me, I've met a lot of guys who feel that way you do. But for those who follow the path of revenge it never ends well. Let it go. You've gotta forget about revenge!" he said.

Sasuke closed his eyes as he started laughing wickedly.

Kakashi and Sakura looked at Sasuke confused.

Karin looked at Sasuke for a moment before she looked back at Kakashi and Sakura.

Sasuke stopped laughing as he made a serious face. "Itachi, half of the Uchiha clan, and half of the Uzumaki clan... bring them all here to us!" he yelled. "Do that and I'll quit right now!"

"I don't want to kill you." Kakashi said. "And also you as well, Karin."

"Do you really think you can kill me and Karin at any moment you wish." Sasuke said then smiled wickedly. "Don't act as if you're still my sensei! Go ahead and try something if you like. I'm just itching to kill you, Kakashi!"

 _"He's been completely brainwashed by Madara. And she's not leaving him no matter what I tell her."_ Kakashi thought.

"Sakura, you take care of Karin. If we take her back to the village, we can convince her to tell us about are enemies." Kakashi said.

Sakura looked at Kakashi. "What about you?" she asked.

"Just take care of Karin and battle her far away from here." Kakashi said.

 _"But, Kakashi-sensei..."_ Sakura thought, worried.

Kakashi smiled at Sakura. "I will shoulder your burden from here on... well it is my role after all." he said.

Sakura looked down at the ground.

Kakashi stopped smiling. "Now..." he said.

Sakura nodded her head.

"Try to battle her, Sakura!" Kakashi said before he took off his cloak with his right hand tossed it aside on the right. "As the leader of Team 7, I will settle this once and for all!"

Sasuke made a serious face. "You know I really don't like repeating myself either. Don't act as if you're still my sensei. Got it." he said.

Kakashi lifted his Forehead Protector from his left eye to reveal the Sharingan. _"He continued to feel affections for Orochimaru, no matter how far he fell. Third Hokage, even though you nurtured many others fine pupils... your cherished student abandoned the village. And then the agony of having to face him in battle. No one can begin to imagine the resolve it took."_ he thought then stepped forward a little.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi suspiciously.

"Now I finally understand what the Third Hokage must've gone through." Kakashi said, lowering his left hand.

Sasuke cracked his right fists knuckles with his left hand a few times before he lowered his left arm. "You'll be able to tell him that yourself once I'm done with you, Kakashi." he said.

"Alright." Kakashi said.

"The Sharingan is proof that one is an Uchiha." Sasuke said then ran towards Kakashi. "You're just an outsider, so don't you dare haunt that eye before me, you piece of trash!" then touched the paper seal on his left arm with his right hand and puffed out 6 shuriken before he through them at Kakashi and Sakura with right hand.

Sakura backed away a little.

Kakashi looked at Sakura. "On the edge of the shuriken... Sasuke's used to real combat and won't pull any punches! In that case..." he said then crouched down on the ground and placed his hands on the ground. "Earth Style: Mud Wall!" a grey wall that had 4 bulldogs from left to right appeared behind them.

Sakura jumped into the trees before the shuriken could even hit her as they hit the mud wall.

Sasuke activated his Chidori with his left hand again as he jumped up and tried to attack Kakashi, yelling.

Kakashi moved out of the way as Sasuke hit the ground Kakashi was at before a few rocks flew. Kakashi jumped off of the bridge on the left side and landed on the water as he stood on it and turned around as he backed away a little as Sasuke jumped off the bridge and stood up on the water as he faced Kakashi, unactivated his Chidori.

"For a borrowed Sharingan." Sasuke said then smirked. "You really are quite skilled in it's use. However, no matter what your Sharingan can do my Sharingan is in a completely different league than yours!" activating his Sharingan then closed his eyes. "Watch." then opened his eyes as he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.

Kakashi became surprised as Sasuke activated his upper half Susano'o as it grew skin on itself with the bow in his left hand and arrow in it's right hand.

"Is that..." Kakashi said, shocked.

Sasuke's Susano'o aimed his arrow at Kakashi then shot one at him.

Kakashi quickly activated his Mangekyo Sharingan as he redirected the arrow's path.

Sasuke panted a little.

Some of the water was raining down on them before it stopped.

 _"So fast... If I hadn't blown it away with the Mangekyo, I'd be done for."_ Kakashi thought.

Sasuke panted even more.

"Is that the Susano'o?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke smirked. "Impressive. Who would have thought someone who's not of the Uchiha could awaken the Mangekyo? It seems to me that you were saved by the abilities of that eye. You should be grateful for the power of the Uchiha." he questioned.

Karin looked at Sakura, who jumped out of the tree and faced her.

"I knew that you were lying to us." Karin said.

"You were going to let Sasuke-kun kill me?!" Sakura questioned.

"Oh so it was okay for you to kill him?" Karin asked.

"He's a very bad person after all the things he's done." Sakura said.

"Sasuke's not a bad person, he has his reasons." Karin said.

"That's what you think and he needs to be destroyed." Sakura said.

"You're not going anywhere near him!" Karin said, pulling a kunai from her left sleeve with her left hand and threw it at Sakura.

Sakura dodged before she ran at Karin with her right fist raised. "Shannaro!" she yelled.

"Sasuke, listen to me! More than just half your clan and the Uzumaki clan is in you. More than just hatred! Look deep down within your heart, one more time!" Kakashi said.

"Are you really still going on about that?" Sasuke asked.

"I think deep down you know the truth." Kakashi said.

Sasuke started to picture the whole village except the Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan smiling. "All the laughter." he said as he frowned. "Everyone one of you is laughing! Itachi sacrificed his life but your still laughing! Cackling together like fools! Your just ignorant of everything!" becoming angry as his Susano'o upgraded by having armour around itself.

Kakashi became surprised again.

"I can hear nothing but contempt and cheering in your voices! I wanna change those laughs into screams and wails of misery!" Sasuke yelled angrily as his Susano'o roared.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi said.

As Karin and Sakura continued, Karin stopped battling as she sensed Sasuke's chakra was colder.

"Sasuke!" Karin said before she turned around and ran towards the bridge.

"Hey, wait!" Sakura said, running after Karin.

Karin stopped at the left side of the bridge and placed her hands on the balcony as she looked down at Sasuke, her eyes widened when she saw the newly transformed Susano'o. _"Sasuke's chakra has gotten colder._ " she thought.

Sakura stopped at the left side of Karin and looked down at the scene of Kakashi and Sasuke, her eyes widened. "What is that thing around Sasuke-kun?!" she asked.

"Susano'o." Karin said.

Sakura looked at Karin. "Susano'o?" she asked.

"Hai." Karin said.

Sakura looked down at the scene again.

The Susano'o roared again.

"This is bad." Kakashi said.

Sasuke laughed wickedly again then stopped. "Well, how about it, Kakashi?! Can your borrowed Sharingan extinguish power like this?!" he yelled angrily. "Now I'm going to show you the difference between your borrowed Sharingan and the real one!"

Sasuke's Susano'o's armour and skin disappeared.

Sasuke groaned in pain as he closed his eyes.

Kakashi looked up at the Susano'o as it had no skin and armour anymore.

Sasuke placed his hands over his face. "Damn it!" he said, his Susano'o disappearing.

Sasuke opened his eyes as his sight was blurry, lowering his hands.

 _"Sasuke's chakra is decreasing and something must be wrong with his vision."_ Karin thought.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi to see he was blurry. _"No! M-my sight!"_ he thought as he placed his hands over his face again.

Sakura saw this before she quickly turned around and ran to the right side of the bridge.

Karin looked at Sakura as she hopped over the right side of bridge. _"Oh no!"_ she thought before she looked back down at the scene. She sensed a very familiar chakra coming towards them. _"Oh not you too, Oniisan."_

Sakura run on the bridge and under it.

Kakashi looked up to see Sakura climbing upside down on the as she was heading towards Sasuke. "Sakura! Why did you come back?!" he asked, running slowly. "Don't!"

 _"I won't let Kakashi-sensei bare this burden!"_ Sakura thought as she stopped, remembering the conversation with her friends, her past in her academy days and Team 7 meeting before she pulled out a poison laced kunai with right hand and jumped down quietly. She was behind Sakura as she pointed the kunai to his back, closing her eyes as she cried. _"I thought I'd made up my mind..."_

"Sasuke! Sakura's behind you!" Karin yelled before she jumped over over.

Sasuke uncovered his face and saw Sakura before he turned around and grabbed Sakura's neck with his right hand.

"Damn it! I'm always like this after using the Mangekyo!" Kakashi said to himself.

Sakura gasped in pain as Sasuke took the kunai with his left hand and tried to stab Sakura with it.

Karin made it to the end of the bridge and stopped.

"Don't do it, Sasuke!" Kakashi said.

Sasuke strucked Naruto, in his usual outfit excluding his Forehead Protector, as he grabbed Sakura bridal style from Sasuke's right arm and jumped a few feet away.

Kakashi stopped running shocked. "Naruto?!" he asked.

Sakura opened her eyes. "Naruto!" she said.

Naruto now had a scratch on the right side of his cheek as he looked at Sasuke. Karin jumped off the bridge and landed a few meters away before turning around to face them.

Kakashi ran up to Sasuke and tried to punch him with his right fist but Sasuke disappeared and reappeared on the bridge, Kakashi followed after him. Sasuke threw the kunai at Kakashi before they fought on the bridge.

Naruto and Sakura looked at Karin.

"Karin, why are you here?" Naruto asked.

"I've joined Sasuke and we made Team Taka." Karin said. "We've defected from Konoha."

"Return to the Leaf with us." Naruto said. "You're not like this, dattebayo."

"I'm sorry, Oniisan. But I'm not returning." Karin said.

Sasuke landed close to Karin on the left side while Kakashi landed a few feet in front of Naruto and Sakura and stood up.

"You got even better timing than I do, Naruto. I never imagined you'd come here, but it's a good thing you did." Kakashi said. "You're a life saver."

Naruto placed Sakura on the water.

Sakura looked at Naruto. "Yeah, thank you, Naruto." she said then looked at Sasuke sadly. _"Sasuke-kun... really tried to kill me just then. If Naruto hadn't come, I-I'd be dead now. By Sasuke-kun's hands..."_ she thought.

Naruto stood up as he faced Sasuke. "Sasuke, come on. Sakura-chan is a member of the same Team 7, remember?!" he questioned.

Sasuke smirked. "You mean former member?! I'm no longer in it." he asked.

"And besides Oniisan, Sakura tried to kill Sasuke too." Karin said.

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura stayed silent for a moment.

"Now do you understand, Naruto, Sakura? What dwells within him now is a true intent to kill! Sasuke is no longer the person we once knew. And Karin is now our enemy as well." Kakashi asked.

Naruto started to remember Team 7 and Karin smiling 3 years ago then stopped and walked forward until he was on the left side of Kakashi. "Listen, Sasuke." he said.

"What do you want?" Sasuke questioned.

"I know the truth about Itachi. That guy Tobi told me everything." he said.

Sasuke and Karin became shocked.

Sakura looked up at Naruto. _"The truth about Itachi?"_ she thought then looked back at Sasuke.

Kakashi looked down at Naruto.

"Then again, maybe he was lying I guess I can't really know for sure. But doesn't matter what you been doing... I get it, Sasuke!" Naruto said.

Kakashi and Sakura looked at Naruto surprised.

Karin gave Naruto an annoyed look.

Sasuke made an angry look as he made his hands into fists. "Naruto. Just like I said told you before, you never had a sibling who murdered half of 2 clans. You couldn't possibly get it." he said. "So all you outsiders can just shut up!"

Sakura stood up on the water as she looked at Sasuke seriously. "Do you know what Naruto has gone through for you?! No matter what bad rumors he heard about you, Naruto always considered you a friend!" she asked then looked down. "And also everyone wanted to turn on you, Naruto, your parents, and your clan stood up for you and wanted to rescue you even now!" then looked at Sasuke again.

"Rescue me... from what?" Sasuke questioned.

Sakura looked down sadly. "Oh from..." she said.

"From revenge, Sasuke, dattebayo." Naruto said.

Sasuke and Karin were shocked.

"I'm definitely going to save you from the dark abyss of revenge!" Naruto said. "From revenge and from all the chao that it causes."

Karin looked down at the water.

Sasuke smirked. "Hmph. But we don't want you to do that. The stage has already been made set for my vengeance." he said.

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura looked at Sasuke surprised.

"Not long ago with the help from Karin, I finally got my revenge on the one behind Itachi's betrayal." Sasuke said, remembering how he defeated Danzo and how he died. He moved his fingers around. "I took down a high ranking Hidden Leaf elder right here, the one called Danzo."

Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura became shocked at what Sasuke just said.

Naruto looked at Karin. "Is that really true, Karin?" he asked.

Karin looked at Naruto, serious. "Hai, it's true." she said.

Naruto looked back Sasuke.

 _"Sasuke was able to defeat Danzo, all by myself?!"_ Kakashi thought.

Karin looked at Sasuke, worried.

Sasuke raised his arms midway, smirking. "It's a sensation I've never felt before! I can feel the tainted Uchiha and Uzumaki names becoming cleansed! I feel half of the Uchiha and Uzumaki at last being free from this rotting shinobi world. You couldn't even begin to understand it. And besides, is it what I'm doing exactly what you Leaf shinobi have wanted all along. You've always snubbed and put down the Uchiha and Uzumaki clan, so I'll simply help erase the 2 clans from your memories. By killing all of you. And destroying the Hidden Leaf Village!"

Kakashi, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura continued to look at Sasuke.

"Severing all bonds with the Hidden Leaf will be the Ultimate purification and that shall lead to the Uchihas and Uzumakis true restoration!" Sasuke said.

Sakura sweated a little. "My gosh, Sasuke-kun..." she said.

 _"Hatred... and how it's been accumulated over the course of history... That's what created the Sasuke before us. Maybe they don't understand it perfectly, but Sakura and Naruto are now seeing with their own eyes that Sasuke is a victim of the times we live in."_ Kakashi thought, looking at Naruto and Sakura then looked at Karin. _"And whether she likes it or not, Karin."_ then looked at Sasuke. _"Which is especially why..."_ remembering some memories of Sasuke as he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.

As Naruto had his hands together to make a shadow clone, Kakashi placed his left hand in front of him.

Sasuke lowered his arms as he made a serious face.

2 clones of Naruto appeared on the right side as they and Naruto looked up at Kakashi.

"This is my responsibility! Naruto, Sakura, go on. Get out of here!" Kakashi said.

Sakura looked at Kakashi. "Kakashi-sensei, no..." she said.

"If you stay, you'll see things you wish you hadn't. Now go." Kakashi said.

"Sensei I..." Sakura said.

Kakashi lowered his left hand as he walked forward a little bit. "Sakura, you won't be able to kill Sasuke with the poisoned kunai you learned from Shizune. He's been made resistant to poison by Orochimaru. Also, you've come to terms with your feelings, right?" he asked.

Sakura became surprised before she sadly closed her eyes.

 _"They still don't know that Sasuke lost his curse mark a long time ago."_ Karin thought then she suddenly heard birds and looked to the left side to see Sasuke grabbed his upper left arm with his right hand as he activated his Chidori with his left hand. "No, Sasuke! I healed you, but your body won't be able to take another fight! You can't withstand another battle yet. Please Sasuke..." she said, worried.

"Don't worry, Karin. This won't take long." Sasuke said then stepped forward and stopped.

Kakashi grabbed his right wrist with his left hand as he activated his Chidori with his right hand.

"Kakashi-sensei. This something you don't want us to see... Are you going to kill Sasuke?!" Naruto asked.

Sakura opened her eyes as she looked at Kakashi.

"Go, both of you!" Kakashi said.

A moment later, one of the Naruto clones grabbed Kakashi from behind to hold him while the other Naruto clone helped Naruto make a Rasengan with his right hand. When the clone was done, Naruto towards Sasuke.

Sasuke ran towards Naruto smirking. "Now's my chance and I'm not going to hold back!" he said.

Kakashi unactivated his Chidori as he tried to get released. "Wait, Naruto!" he yelled.

Kakashi, Karin, and Sakura watched Sasuke and Naruto ran at each other.

"Sasuke! Oniisan!" Karin yelled.

"Naruto!" Sakura yelled.

When they made it to each other, Sasuke and Naruto attacked each other with their jutsus.

"Chidori!" Sasuke yelled.

"Rasengan!" Naruto yelled.

A bright white giant spear appeared around Sasuke and Naruto as the water violently shook. Karin closed her eyes as she placed her arms over her face.

Suddenly Sasuke and Naruto's minds were combined as it had brought white background that had shining dots of light. Sasuke was standing on the left side and Naruto was standing on the right side, facing each other as they were a few feet away.

"Sasuke, you know too, don't you?" Naruto asked before he placed his right hand on his stomach as he looked down at it. "Back in the day, the entire village secretly used to hate me... because of the Nine-Tails that's inside of me. And I secretly hated them right back." then looked at Sasuke. "I thought about getting revenge on everyone too. If my parents, Karin, and my clans hadn't loved me and I could've been like you and devised some terrible plan." taking his right hand off of his stomach.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

Naruto looked down. "I used to think that I didn't have any bonds outside my family with anyone either... till I met you and Iruka-sensei as well..." he said then started to smile. "However... I almost gave into my despair, but you and Iruka-sensei you saved me." then closed eyes and lifted his head up and placed his right hand on the back of his neck. "Back then, besides I always knew that you didn't have a bond outside of your family clan. I felt better knowing there was someone like me out there. We were just brats but dealing with no other kid had too and always being compared." putting his right arm down and opened his eyes as he stopped smiling. "Me the Nine-Tails and son of the Fourth Hokage, you the fate of the Uchiha and son of the Police Force leader. We had such similar burdens, pretty ironic huh? To be honest, nearly every time I saw you all I really wanted to do was to come up to you and start talking. I get sort of nervous, because I felt like maybe you of all people can understand me. But I never did because I was jealous." then smiled. "You were so good at everything, but your father decided we should be rivals." then looked at Sasuke. "And Sasuke, from that day on... you've been my goal."

Sasuke still didn't say anything.

"At the beginning I had no friends and I built more bonds. It's all because I was a part of Team 7, together with you and Sakura-chan." Naruto said, remembering Team 7's C rank mission, Forest of Death, and Sunagakure Invasion, he closed his eyes. "I wanted to be strong like you, cool like you. I guess that's why I kept chasing after you." then opened his eyes again for a moment before he closed them again. "No matter what happens, I'm really glad that I got to know you."

"Naruto. No matter what you say to me now, I'm not changing." Sasuke said.

Naruto opened his eyes, continuing to smile.

"I'm still going to kill each and every person in the Hidden Leaf including you!" Sasuke said, remembering said the night Itachi left the village. "I'll get revenge of half the Uchiha and Uzumaki clan!"

Naruto closed his eyes, sadly smiling. "But... Is that really the only way, Sasuke?"

"There isn't. You now have 2 choices. One is to become the hero of the village who killed me. The other is to be killed by me and forever remain a loser." Sasuke said.

"Sasuke... I just don't believe that." Naruto said as he opened his eyes and stopped smiling. "I'm not going to be a loser, and I'm not going to be the hero who kills you! Neither one's gonna happen."

Sasuke and Naruto's minds separated from each other as continued their on the outside.

Sakura stood behind one of the Naruto clones as the water shook violently.

When their attacks stopped, Naruto flew backwards into the air. Kakashi broke away from one of the Naruto clones and jumped after him until he caught him from behind and landed where they were standing previously

As Sasuke was flying backwards in the air, a white Zetsu came from Sasuke's back and took the impacted of the rock wall behind them. The white Zetsu clone held Sasuke with his left hand as he stood up on the water as the violent water stopped.

Karin uncovered her face with her arms before she turned around and looked worriedly at Sasuke. "Oh no! Sasuke!" she said as she started running towards Sasuke and the white Zetsu clone.

Sasuke panted as he looked up at the white Zetsu clone. "You're here? Since when?" he questioned.

The white Zetsu placed Sasuke down on the water.

Sasuke crouched down on the water as he looked down. "When did you?" he asked, panting even more.

"Oh, I've been tagging along for quite awhile now. Tobi told me to observe you and to make sure you didn't see me." the white Zetsu clone said.

"Sasuke!" Karin said, crouching down on the right side of Sasuke as she placed her left hand on his right shoulder. "Are you alright?!"

"Yeah... I'm fine..." Sasuke said, panting.

The white Zetsu clone looked at Kakashi, Naruto and his clones, and Sakura. "It seems like you were in a crisis and you needed some help." he said.

Sasuke looked over at Naruto.

The white Zetsu clone looked down at Sasuke. _"I guess I should call on him soon. It doesn't seem like Sasuke's going to retreat."_ he thought.

Kakashi looked down at Naruto. "Naruto. I told you to go back to the village!" he said, letting of Naruto.

"It's..." Naruto said then looked at Sasuke. "All clear to me now."

Kakashi and Naruto stood up on the water again.

"It's all clear? What'd you mean by that, Naruto?!" Kakashi asked.

Sakura looked at Naruto sadly.

Naruto continued to watch Sasuke, who was still panting.

"Sasuke, you need to rest. You can't battle anymore." Karin said then she looked up as she suddenly sensed Tobi's chakra.

A black swirling hole appeared.

Kakashi gasped when the swirling stopped as it revealed Tobi, standing on the right side of the white Zetsu clone, Sasuke, and Karin.

"What's the meaning of this, Sasuke? I told you to retreat and get some rest." Tobi said.

Kakashi's Mangekyo Sharingan turned back into the Sharingan. "Madara!" he said.

Sasuke continued to pant.

Tobi looked at Naruto. "The Nine-Tails huh...?" he questioned, raising his hands midway. "It seems that when you 2 see each other you just can't suppress the urge to fight." then lowered his arms. "I'll arrange the proper time and place for to fight and capture the Nine-Tails... but for now we retreat."

Karin rubbed Sasuke' back with her left hand as Sasuke squinted his eyes a little bit.

"And I'll stay and fight for you." the white Zetsu clone said, raising his left hand. "After all, we need to capture the Nine-Tails jinjuriki anyway."

Karin stopped rubbing Sasuke's back as she looked to see 5 white Zetsu clones appear from the water.

Kakashi, Naruto and his clones, and Sakura looked serious at the white Zetsu clones.

 _"Both Madara and Zetsu, huh? They sure stick close to Sasuke. But this is gonna be a bit too much for me to handle alone. What should I do?"_ Kakashi thought.

Tobi looked looked at the white Zetsu clone. "No Zetsu, you won't be able to capture Naruto. You're not a combat type. The Nine-Tails will be too much for you to handle. We'll let Sasuke get the Nine-Tails. It'll also be for my entertainment." he said.

"Oh, is that so?" the white Zetsu asked, his clones disappearing back into the water.

"Our bigger concerns now is Kisame. Go check on him and rendezvous with Black Zetsu." Tobi said.

"Yes, alright. I understand." the white Zetsu clone said.

Naruto walked forward.

"Naruto!" Kakashi said.

"I know, dattebayo. But don't worry I'm alright. There's just one thing I wanna make sure I say to Sasuke and Karin before they leave." Naruto said.

Tobi and Karin looked at Sasuke.

Tobi crouched down. "Let's go, Sasuke." he said.

Sasuke stopped panting. "Not yet." he said.

Tobi looked at Naruto, who stopped walking.

Sasuke and Karin stood up as they looked at Naruto. Karin took her left hand off of Sasuke's right shoulder.

"Karin, please come home soon. We're family and Mom and the others miss you." Naruto said.

Karin suddenly started to feel sad.

"Sasuke! Do you remember? Do you remember what you said to long ago at the Hospital...?! The thing about 2 first-class shinobi!" Naruto asked, remembering. "Trading blows just now, I learned a lot about you and what you're thinking. It means that we've become first-class shinobi. Both you and me. So Sasuke... how about it." closing his eyes. "Can you tell me what it is I'm thinking right now?" placing his right hand on his chest. "Can you read my mind?" opening his eyes. "And can you understand?" lowering his right arm. "That if you and I fight each other... we'll both die."

Everyone stood in silence for a moment.

"Sasuke... If you attack Konoha, then I will be forced to fight, don't doubt that. Until that day, save your hatred. Then you can throw all of it right at me! The only one who can handle all of your hatred is me! Do you understand? I'm the only who can fulfill that duty." Naruto asked.

Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger.

"Then, I will carry the burden of all your hatred. And I'll die with you!" Naruto said.

Tobi stood up from the water.

Sakura looked at Naruto sadly.

"What is it with you?! Huh? Just what in the hell do you want from me?! Why are you so fixated on me?!" Sasuke asked, yelling.

Naruto smiled. "Because you're my friend." he said.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Sasuke... From the moment we met, I knew it would take a lot of work. If I was ever gonna understand you." Naruto said then held up his right fist. "Exchanging punches is the way we understand each other, I know that. Like I said just now, it means that both of us have become high level shinobi."

Sasuke smirked.

"Once we really understand each other, your hatred will go away. Just like mine when I met Iruka-sensei." Naruto said. "I haven't given up on you, not yet! I will take you and Karin back to the Hidden Leaf Village. I'll never change my mind, dattebayo!"

 _"Naruto... y-you..."_ Sakura thought.

Naruto closed his eyes as he lowered his right arm. "Alright, I-I guess that I'm done nagging you for now, Sasuke. Damn it, this is ridiculous! I'm not any good with words I shouldn't try to lecture you, dattebayo." he said. "Well I guess if the worst does happen and both of us end up dying you won't be an Uchiha and I won't be the Nine-Tails jinjuriki anymore. We'll be free of our burdens and we'll understand each other in the afterlife." opening his eyes.

Sakura closed her eyes as she cried.

Karin looked down at the water, unsure of something.

Sakura opened her eyes as she stopped crying.

Everyone stood in a moment of silence again.

Sasuke made a serious face. "I'm not going to change. Not do I feel like understanding you. Nor do I feel like dying. You're the one who's going to die." he said.

Karin lifted her head up.

Naruto continued to smile at Sasuke. "If I die, you'll die with me, Sasuke." he said.

Sasuke smirked as he closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again. "Fine by me but at I'll take you down first!" he said.

"No problem, since it's clear that you still don't respect me at all." Naruto said.

"Enough, Naruto. I'll handle Sasuke. You still have to pursue precious your dream of becoming Hokage. I don't want you to be dragged down with him." Kakashi said.

"Could someone who can't even save one of his friends really become Hokage? Fine Sasuke, I'll fight you!" the Naruto clones said.

Kakashi and Sakura looked at one of Naruyo clones before they turned forward.

 _"Naruto's stands here with clear resolve..."_ Sakura thought, remembering what Naruto said earlier before she closed her eyes. _"While my courage and determination do nothing but continued to waiver. Even though I'm a shinobi too but I'm always crying and relying too much on Naruto."_ wiping her eyes with both hands before opening her eyes again. _"I came here thinking that I was past all that but still I hesitate. I haven't really prepared myself at all. I can't do anything, I can't say anything. All I can do is... Believe in both of them!"_

Kakashi stepped forward. "Alright, I'll leave Sasuke to you, Naruto." he said then stopped. "However, watch over my body, Sakura. I'm going to take care of Madara right here and now." then activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. "Kamui!"

Tobi held up his left arm. "Hold it right there, Kakashi. That jutsu won't work on me." he said.

Kakashi started to sweat as he inactivated his Mangekyo Sharingan to a Sharingan.

Tobi looked at Sasuke. "Let's go, Sasuke." he said, placing his right hand on Sasuke's left shoulder.

Sasuke held out his right hand for Karin, who looked up at him before holding it with her left hand.

"Madara... I wanna talk you later." Sasuke said.

Tobi activated his Transportation Technique on himself, White Zetsu, Sasuke, and Karin as they disappeared.

...

Mountains Graveyard.

Outside.

2 minutes later.

From left to right, Karin, Sasuke, and Tobi were walking into one of the Akatsuki's Hideout entrances. White Zetsu left as soon as possible.

"What did you want to talk about?" Tobi asked.

"I want Itachi's eyes." Sasuke said.

Tobi looked at Sasuke. "So, you've finally decided. You've used the Susano'o too much. I'm aware that you can barely see anything." he said.

Sasuke suddenly felt his head hurting before he placed his left hand on his head.

"It's perfect timing." Tobi said.

"Transplant them right away!" Sasuke said.

"You're in quite the hurry. What's brought this on?" Tobi asked.

"I will crush Naruto with all my strength, and then I will exterminate everything there is about him. That's all." Sasuke said.

Karin looked down.

"Karin." Sasuke said.

"Yes." Karin said.

"I want you to help with the surgery." Sasuke said.

"H-hai." Karin said but wasn't completely sure on working with Madara.

...

10 minutes later.

One of the Rooms.

The room had lots of in a box full of liquid.

Sasuke, who had his shirt and cloth off, was laying on a brown table while Tobi standing on the left side of Sasuke and holding a scalpel in his right hand as Karin, who had her hair wrapped up in a mid-ponytail, was standing on the right side of Sasuke.

Tobi and Karin looked down at Sasuke.

"I'm doing it. Ready?" Tobi asked.

"Just do it." Sasuke said as started thinking about Itachi. _"Niisan... I'm going to crush Konoha!"_ he thought.

 _"I just hope Sasuke gets his sight back completely."_ Karin thought.

* * *

End of Chapter 16.

Please Review.

No Flames.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17.

Please Review.

No Flames.

* * *

Day Time.

A few hours later.

Mountains Graveyard.

Inside.

Laboratory.

Sasuke, in his usual outfit excluding his shirt, cloth, and sword, was sitting on a medium sized light brown bench with his eyes bandaged up in white bandages as his head was lowered and his right hand on his eyes and his left hand was on his left knee. Karin, who still had her hair wrapped up in a mid-ponytail and in her usual outfit, sat beside Sasuke on the left side as she was looking at him.

Sasuke and Karin were sitting behind the Sharingans in the unknown liquid filled jars on the wall.

Tobi, in his usual outfit excluding the Akatsuki cloak, was standing a few meters away from them as he was facing them.

"You'll need some time to recover. It's going to take time to get used to the Mangekyo. Are you in pain?" Tobi asked.

"No... I feel at ease." Sasuke said smirking, lifting his head up as he moved his right hand from his eyes. "I feel Itachi's visual prowess. I can tell that I've already become so much stronger."

Karin looked at Sasuke worried as she sensed that his chakra became darker. _"Sasuke..."_ she thought.

* * *

A few days later.

Day Time.

Mountains Graveyard.

One of the Rooms.

Karin, her hair down and in her usual outfit, was laying on a medium sized bed as her sandals were on the right side of the floor with her. She was quietly staring up at the ceiling as the room as mostly dark except for a candle light on the brown desk beside her on the right side.

Sasuke had gone to the Valley of the End to think about something for awhile. Tobi was gone from the Mountains Graveyard as well as she sensed it.

Karin was thinking about what she and Sasuke had done 2 days ago.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _Night Time._

 _One of the Rooms._

 _Karin sitting on the brown wooden chair at the end of the bed, reading a beige book with both hands when she suddenly sensed Sasuke coming towards the room. Karin looked up as she closed her book with both hands and placed it on the desk beside her on the right side as she was so attuned to Sasuke's dark chakra now that it worried her. Karin held her breath as Sasuke stopped outside the door. Karin can hear her heart beating, feeling that time stopped for a moment. Ever since Sasuke's chakra had become dark, Karin had become a little frightened of Sasuke. But despite being frightened of Sasuke, she still was attracted to her boyfriend romantically and sexually._

 _Karin's pulse started to jump and the area between her legs growns warm and wet with anticipation. She released her breath she was holding as Sasuke, in his usual outfit and the white bandages still covering his as it was wrapped around his upper head, opened the door with his right hand. Karin stood up from her chair and walked over to Sasuke, who entered the room and closed the door with his left hand_ _._

 _"Sasuke." Karin said._

 _Sasuke turned to Karin, despite that he couldn't see, he could still hear perfectly._

 _The very sight of Sasuke that is standing there was leaving Karin breathless. Sasuke was standing a few feet away from Karin as they stood there silently. Karin let her eyes travel up from Sasuke's sandals to his long dark blue pants, to his short sleeved grey zipped up shirt, next she noticed muscles over his shirt, his broad smooth chest to her hungry eyes. Sasuke's spiky black hair around his head especially his bangs covering his forehead, his fair skin face looking as if he had spent the last hour running his hands through it. Finally Karin's eyes were on Sasuke's bandaged ones. Karin could picture Sasuke's charcoal black ones despite that Sasuke now had Itachi's crow black ones now._

 _Sasuke walked towards Karin, which made her a little bit nervous._

 _"Sasuke." Karin said._

 _When Sasuke stepped in front of Karin, he quickly placed his lips are on hers, he suddenly wrapped his arms around her waist and pushed against his chest. Karin closed her eyes as she wrapped her right arm around Sasuke's neck and reached up with her left arm to tangle it in Sasuke's hair. Their lips continued to kiss each other as Karin felt Sasuke's tongue brush up against her closed lower lip. Karin opened immediatly, meeting his tongue with her own. They started moaning in their make out session. As they continue to be locked in a heated embrace and passionate kiss, Sasuke took his hands off of Karin's waist and picked her up by her legs and carried her to the bed._

 _Karin opened her eyes as she jolted out of her lust filled daze when she feel her back hit something soft. She pull away from Sasuke's mouth and look around the room to realize that the soft thing in question is indeed the bed. Karin looked up at Sasuke. Sasuke's face is flushed and he is breathing hard, his chest rising up and down fast._

 _Karin reached her left hand up to smooth back some hair from Sasuke's beautiful face. "Sasuke, I love you." she said._

 _Karin couldn't read Sasuke's eyes because they were covered up by the bandages but she could tell that he was surprised when he stopped moving. She was not suprised at his shock. It's true that they have told each other our feelings but it has been awhile since they said to each other after they left the village._

 _"Karin, you are my heart." Sasuke said._

 _Karin felt a smile spread across her face from Sasuke's words. She close her eyes as she anticipated another kiss but open them when Sasuke continued to speak to her._

 _"I'm sorry about the things that's been happening lately. I would never hurt you like that. As soon we're done with are mission, I want us to talk alone about our future. But I don't plan to stay here forever. So would you continue to stay with me, it's your decision if you want to leave? Do you understand Yuki?" Sasuke asked._

 _Karin looked at Sasuke for a moment as she sensed that he was telling the truth and despite all the things that's happened over time, she couldn't see herself leaving Sasuke's side. "Yes, Sasuke. And don't worry, I'm not leaving your side." she said._

 _A soft smile crosses Sasuke's lips only to be replaced by a hungry smirk. That is the only warning Karin got before Sasuke once again captures her lips with his own. They closed their eyes again._

 _A moan grumbles in Karin's throat as she felt Sasuke's right hand started to trail up her body. Stopping at the zipper on Karin's shirt, Sasuke doesn't hesitate in zipping the material down and pulling it off with both hands and tossed it on the floor. Sasuke quickly pulled off Karin's shorts and stockings with both hands and tossed them on the floor as well. Karin spread her legs wide as Sasuke settles between them. Sasuke then breaks our kiss to trail hot wet kisses down Karin's check to her throat._

 _"Sasuke." Karin said, gasping out as Sasuke's lips settle on a pressure point and start to suck. Karin mimicked what Sasuke planned to do as Karin arched up into him as she felt his left hand grasp onto her cloth covered breast. Sasuke's right thumb moved to stroke over my right nipple, pleasure coursing through her body._

 _"Hm, Karin I love it when you moan my name. Do it again." Sasuke said, whispering against her moist skin._

 _Karin blushed and shook her head, trying to gain control of her thoughts. Sasuke suddenly pulled himself away from Karin. Karin whined and started to reach for Sasuke with both hands, only to have him chuckle. Sasuke unzipped his shirt with his right hand and pushed it off of his shoulders, leaving his chest bare to Karin._

 _Karin's eyes roam over his naked form memorizing the hard muscles of his chest. The tight sweep of his abdomen, down to the smooth and hairless skin he has. He unwrapped the cloth, rope, and sword he has on with both hands as it falls to the floor, he leaves his pants on for now. Next Sasuke reaches down for Karin's bra and starts to unhook it with both hands. In a matter of moments, Karin was naked as Sasuke tossed it on the floor with his right hand._

 _Sasuke makes an appreciative sound deep within his throat and leans down to capture Karin's right rose colored nipple between his lips._

 _"Uhh." Karin moaned, letting loose and arch up her chest, offering more of myself to Sasuke. She opened her eyes halfway._

 _Sasuke once again pulls his body away from Karin's, but this time he gets off of the bed to remove his pants and sandals with both hands._

 _Once Sasuke was fully naked, Karin took a moment to appreciate Sasuke's sculpted figure. His broad shoulders down to his long strong legs. Finally Karin settled on a piece of him, she had yet to have glimpsed. Sasuke's straining cock pointing up to kiss his stomach. Karin only got but a quick look as Sasuke was once again on top of her, settling himself between her spread legs._

 _"I can't wait. I wanted us to be slow and passionate Yuki, but I need you." Sasuke said against Karin's lips._

 _Karin spreaded her legs wider and curl her arms around Sasuke's neck._

 _"Come on, Sasuke. I need it now." Karin said. She didn't know how she became so bold, but suddenly all the hesitation she felt from being like this with Sasuke disappeared. All the was left was the intense need to be with Sasuke and to make him happy. Karin close her eyes and tilt her head back as she felt Sasuke positioned his cock at Karin's entrance with his right._

 _Karin felt Sasuke's mouth next to her left ear._

 _"Now Karin, you have to be patient for a moment." Sasuke said, whispering._

 _"H-hai." Karin said, whispering the last part as she stared softly into Sasuke's eyes._

 _"Now Yuki. I cannot wait any longer." Sasuke said, suddenly thrusting into her womanhood and making me gasping as it's been awhile since she and Sasuke had sex._

 _Karin wrapped her legs around Sasuke's hips and tense up. Sasuke lowered his face to Karin's to kiss her on the right side of her neck_

 _Sasuke kissed Karin's right cheek. "May I move now?" he asked._

 _Karin unwrapped her legs from around Sasuke's hips and give a tentative shake, she suddenly felt a delicious sort of tingle. She to her consent and Sasuke started to thrust at first slowly then gradually he starts to pick up speed. His hips creating fierce pleasure flood through Karin's body. Sasuke hits a g-spot within her and she threw her head back with a moan ripping from her lips._

 _"Please Kaname. Don't stop, right there." Karin said, closing her eyes as she pleaded desperately with Sasuke._

 _Sasuke grunted as his hips smacked against Karin's even harder. "Never." he said then brings his right hand down to tangle in Karin's hair._

 _Karin felt a tug on her head and tilt back so that she could look at Sasuke. She could hear the heated possessive in Sasuke's voice. Sasuke's mouth opens slightly, his teeth showing. She feel her body heat up more as she opened my mouth to expose her own teeth._

 _Sasuke tugs her head up to meet Sasuke's lips again. On Sasuke's next rough thrust as they kissed each other again. Karin could feel Sasuke's tongue on her lower lip as he wanted to enter her mouth, which she immediately gave him. While Sasuke continued to thrust Karin wrapped her hands more around his neck. Karin clenched up against Sasuke, her release rushing through her. With one final thrust Karin felt Sasuke release inside of her, their mouths still together, drinking deeply._

 _After what feels like hours but in reality has only been minutes Karin felt Sasuke withdraw from her and lay down beside her on the right side. Sasuke and Karin pulled their lips away from one another, Sasuke pulls Karin close with both hands and tucks her head under his chin, his arms encircling her._

 _"Sasuke?" Karin asked, opening her eyes._

 _"Shh Karin. You need to rest." Sasuke said before he kissed the top of Karin's head sweetly._

 _Karin smiled softly at Sasuke's face. "I hope Sasuke's telling the truth." she thought as she noticed that Sasuke fell asleep._

 _That is the last thing to cross Karin's mind, she takes her glasses off of her face and quietly placed them on the stand before nuzzled into Sasuke as the sleep takes her as well._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Karin closed her eyes as she sighed. _"I know Sasuke was telling the truth but... I still sense the dark and coldness in his chakra. How is he going to change especially when he and Oniisan said to each other?"_ she thought.

* * *

A few weeks later.

Day Time.

Mountains' Graveyard.

One of the Rooms.

The ground was shaking as rocks from the Akatsuki Hideout started to break apart.

Sasuke, in a black robe with white bandages wrapped around his waist, was standing up as he actived his Armoured Susano'o form, who had the bow in it's left hand and an arrow in it's right hand, as his eyes were still bandaged up.

White Zetsu backed away from to a wall, scared as he tried to convince Sasuke to stay in the Hideout. He held up his left hand. "No, stop! Why are you doing this?!" he asked, yelling.

Sasuke's Armoured Susano'o shot an arrow at White Zetsu, which stabbed him to the wall.

White Zetsu closed his eyes and screamed in agony as he was now being burned by the Amaterasu. Within moments, the screams stopped as White Zetsu was now dead.

The ceiling cracked as some of it showed sunlight.

Sasuke grabbed the bandages from his eyes with his left hand. "Let's test these outside, shall we?" he questioned then pulled the bandages off before he opened his eyes to reveal his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, it was a mixture of his and Itachi's Mangekyo Sharingans. "I already know these eyes... see the darkness quite well."

"Sasuke!" a female voice said.

Sasuke looked at the right side to see Karin, had her medium sized grey pouch wrapped around her waist, holding his clothes, sandals, and sword with both of her arms.

Karin walked over to Sasuke. "I have your clothes for you." she said.

Sasuke continued to stare at Karin as he lowered his left arm.

...

Karin was standing on the grass on the edge of the Akatsuki's Hideout, looking down as she saw Sasuke, in his usual outfit and his crow black eyes, took out his sword with his right hand and sliced the large bones and jumped up as he crouched down on the right side of Karin.

Karin watched as Sasuke stood up and placed his sword back in it's holster with his right hand.

The large bones collapsed as Sasuke destroyed the Akatsuki's Hideout.

Sasuke looked back at the Akatsuki's Hideout.

"Which way are we going, Sasuke?" Karin asked.

Sasuke forward as he walked away. "We're going to the Hidden Leaf." he said.

Karin walked after Sasuke. _"I knew this would happen, Sasuke turned back into that cold and dark person again."_ she thought.

...

Afternoon.

Cloudy and Raining.

2 hours later.

Sasuke and Karin continued to walk in the rain as their clothes were getting wet. They stopped in an abandoned village but couldn't finds anyone there. Karin was looking around the area as she sensed no chakras anywhere.

 _"Something's not right... Where is everyone?"_ Karin thought.

Sasuke looked at Karin. "Karin, what's the matter?" he asked.

Karin looked forward. "I'm sensing another in the area, they've must've gone somewhere." she said then looked at the unknown village up ahead. "Or they're dead."

Sasuke looked forward to see the unknown village Karin was looking at as he remained silent.

...

15 minutes later.

As Sasuke and Karin walked through the unknown village, Karin saw a medium sized brown dog eating out of a fallen medium sized light brown basket on the right side.

When Sasuke stopped walking, Karin almost immediately stopped walking as well as she looked up at him.

"Sasuke, why did you stop?" Karin asked.

Sasuke looked down. "What is this?" he asked then looked forward.

"It's the uneasiness in the area." Karin said. "But why did everyone went away?"

...

Almost an hour later.

Sasuke and Karin were out of the unknown village as they were walking in grass and it still continued to rain. About 20 minutes ago, Karin told Sasuke that she sensed a small army of White Zetsu clones were heading towards them.

When the White Zetsu clones were standing a few meters away from them, Sasuke and Karin stopped walking and turned around to see the White Zetsu clones.

Sasuke smirked at the White Zetsu clones. "You didn't waste any time coming after us." he said.

"What are you doing out here?!" one of the White Zetsu clones asked, yelling.

"Or not... as it seems to be..." Sasuke said.

Some of the White Zetsu clones gasped.

"We passed by 2 towns on my way here, but they were both completely deserted. We thought something wasn't quite outside. Do you happen to know anything about what's going on?" Sasuke asked.

"First you're gonna have to answer our question, how come you're outside?!" one of the White Zetsu clones asked.

"What happened to our original that was with you?!" another White Zetsu clone asked.

"If you hate it so much that I'm outside now then why don't you capture me? After all, you do out number us this time." Sasuke asked.

Some of the White Zetsu clones eyes widened.

"Hold on. You didn't kill our original, did you?" one of the White Zetsu clones asked, shocked.

"With this many of you now, I hope it's more of a challenge this time." Sasuke said.

All of the White Zetsu clones became angry as they ran over to Sasuke and Karin.

Karin became annoyed as she stepped forward to battle the White Zetsu clones.

"No." Sasuke said.

Karin suddenly stopped as she looked to the left side at Sasuke.

"I'll handle this." Sasuke said.

"Hai." Karin said then looked forward at the White Zetsu clones.

Sasuke closed his eyes and opened them again as he activated his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan. He summoned his Armoured Susano'o. "Susano'o!" he said.

Sasuke's Armoured Susano'o held out his right hand as it held a purple orb ss it turned black before the black flames came out of it and started burning the White Zetsu clones.

The White Zetsu clones screamed in agony as they started falling on the ground and dying.

Sasuke waited for a moment before he used his Armoured Susano'o left arm to pick up one of the White Zetsu that wasn't burned and held it close to him so it could speak.

Sasuke and Karin looked up at the White Zetsu clone, serious.

"Sharingan!" Sasuke said.

The White Zetsu clone's eyes were now half closed as he was placed under Sasuke's Genjutsu.

"This is a war... Our orders... take down the enemy." the White Zetsu clone said.

"War?!" Karin questioned, shocked. _"So, that's what happened while Sasuke was recovering all this time. No wonder those 2 villages were empty."_ she thought.

Sasuke smirked again. "Looks like Madara's started things. He has begun his plan." he said.

"Capture Killer B and apprehend Naruto Uzumaki as well." the White Zetsu clone said.

"Oniisan." Karin said.

Sasuke made a serious face again as he remembered what he and Naruto said to each other the last time they saw each other before he smirked again.

"If you don't hurry... More and more of his friends will join up with him... one after another." the White Zetsu clone said.

Sasuke closed his eyes before he remembered the fights he and Naruto had when 3 and a 1/2 years. "Have you forgotten, Naruto... Just what truth strength really looks like?" he said then remembered what he said a few weeks ago.

...

 _Flashback._

 _"Sasuke... If you attack Konoha, then I will be forced to fight, don't doubt that. Until that day, save your hatred. Then you can throw all of it right at me! The only one who can handle all of your hatred is me! Do you understand? I'm the only who can fulfill that duty." Naruto asked._

 _Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger._

 _"Then, I will carry the burden of all your hatred. And I'll die with you!" Naruto said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

 _Sasuke smirked as he closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again. "Fine by me but at I'll take you down first!" he said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Sasuke grabbed his sword with his right hand pulled it out and sliced the White Zetsu clone's head from his body as he made a serious face. "I think that it's time for me to come and find you... It's time to cut you down." he said.

Karin looked to the right side to see a White Zetsu clone slowly crawling away. "Sasuke, one of them is still alive." she said.

Sasuke looked at the White Zetsu clone to see that it was running away. "You're not Hidden Leaf Village shinobi. You're not part of the promise." he said then turned his Armoured Susano'o to the White Zetsu clone before the orb shot the Amaterasu at him.

The White Zetsu clone screamed in pain and fell down on his stomach as the Amaterasu was on him, dying moments later.

Sasuke smirked again. "These are good eyes." he said, placing his left hand over his face.

Karin looked at Sasuke, worried.

"I'm quickly getting used to them, Niisan." Sasuke said.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"When you possess the same eyes, come back and face me." Itachi said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

 _"The scenes burned into these eyes... that once belong to my Niisan... are disgustingly sad... They eeigh me down. But that's only fitting. Just you watch, Niisan!"_ Sasuke thought.

"I can't believe there's a war now. How are our clans and families doing in battle?" Karin asked.

Sasuke's Armoured Susano'o disappeared as he started to put his sword back in it's holster with his right hand but stopped when he and Karin looked up to see birds flying away in the distance.

Karin suddenly gasped and her eyes widened as she turned to the right side and looked at the forest as she sensed a familiar chakra moving away from them. _"It can't be... Sasuke said that he was dead...!"_ she thought.

Sasuke looked down at Karin. "What's wrong?" he asked.

Karin looked up at Sasuke. "I sense him, but I don't know how it happened." she said.

"What do mean by that?" Sasuke asked, reverting his eyes back to the Sharingan.

"Come on, you have to see." Karin said before she ran towards the forest and the familiar chakra.

Sasuke held up his sword with his right hand and followed Karin.

As Sasuke and Karin ran into the forest, Karin suddenly stopped to see Itachi, who now had pale white with linings on his face, dark grey and has soulless onyx eyes minus the irides and in his usual outfit, mesh armour with navy accents under an identical T-shirt with a simple white belt around the waist and dark blue long pants, grey sandals, white socks, and a long sleeved hooded maroon cloak, hopping from tree to tree in the opposite direction.

"Itachi. He's right over there." Karin said.

Sasuke's eyes widened and he stopped running when he saw Itachi, he started to remember some memories of Itachi when he was younger and when he died in front of him as he put his sword back in it's holster with his right hand.

Itachi continued to jump from tree to tree.

Sasuke made a serious face before he jumped after Itachi in the trees.

"Hey, wait up. Sasuke!" Karin said, jumping after Sasuke in the trees.

Itachi looked back slightly to see that Sasuke and Karin were following him.

"Wait!" Sasuke said.

Itachi looked forward as he jumped jumping from tree to tree as Sasuke and Karin continued to follow him.

"Is that you, Itachi?!" Sasuke asked.

Itachi still didn't say anything as he continued jumping away.

 _"Where's Itachi going in such a hurry anyway?"_ Karin thought.

Sasuke became angry. "I told you to wait!" he said before he activated his Susano'o ribcage and the right arm to grab Itachi.

Itachi looked back at the Susano'o right arm coming towards him before he activated his Susano'o ribcage and right arm to deflect it from grabbing him.

Sasuke became surprised. _"A Susano'o!"_ he thought.

 _"Sasuke did mention that Itachi had a Susano'o, but he never told me it was orange-red..."_ Karin thought, surprised.

Sasuke became serious again. "This Susano'o... So you are Itachi!" he said.

"I'm impressed. I didn't know you'd been able to master it as well, Sasuke. And came along as well, Karin. It's been awhile." Itachi said.

Karin gave Itachi a serious look.

"But what what are you even doing here?! You're supposed to be dead!" Sasuke asked.

Itachi unactivated his Susano'o ribcage and right arm. "This is Kabuto's jutsu... I have become a reanimated shinobi." he said then looked at Sasuke and Karin. "No time to talk right now. There's something important that I have to do." then looked forward.

"Reanimated?! Karin questioned. _"And Kabuto's doing, it's been awhile since we've seen him."_

"So what, I don't care! You're here right in front of me right now!" he said then unactivated his Susano'o ribcage and right arm. "And I have questions for you!"

"Ask me later... But I guess that's not going to happen." Itachi said.

"You're the one who told me to come and find you once I had the same eyes as you. Now you wanna run away from me. Are you running out of guilt for being a liar?! You don't have the courage to tell me the truth! I already know... everything about you anyway!" Sasuke questioned.

Karin watched as Sasuke continued to yell at Itachi.

"That's why me and Karin are going to destroy the Hidden Leaf!" Sasuke said.

"I told you before when we fought against each other... We each live inside our own fantasies... I asked you to think about it that way and about how one's reality might be an illusion." Itachi said then looked at Sasuke. "However, my truth is real."

"I no longer live inside an illusion! And I can see through your genjutsu! These eyes are your eyes!" Sasuke yelled.

Itachi started to remember what Naruto said to him earlier.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _Earlier._

 _"Sasuke understands all of your pain and your resolve to do what you did! But Sasuke isn't like you, he's going to destroy the Hidden Leaf, somehow convinced Karin to help him! He's gonna kill everyone in order to avenge the pain that the village caused his older brother!" Naruto said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

"I can tell that part of you is still the same, but I've heard from others what's happened to you. I know how much you've changed." Itachi said.

"You're wrong! You were the one who changed my world long ago!" Sasuke said then closed his eyes. "We were also supposed to die with half of our clans! But no..." remembering the Massacre of half the Uchiha clan and half of the Uzumaki clan.

Karin sadly looked at Sasuke for a moment before she looked as she started remember seeing the dead bodies of her clan and Itachi placing her under that genjutsu.

Sasuke and Karin started to remember the pain memories and what they were told.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _8 years ago._

 _Night Time._

 _Karin, 7 years old and in her old usual outfit, slowly stepped forward while she sadly looked down her clan's lifeless bodies. As she made it to the location where the chakras were disappearing now, she looked up to see Itachi, 13 years and in his old Anbu uniform, was killing a Uzumaki clan man in near the house with his sword in his right hand. The man fell lifeless on the ground when Itachi pulled his sword back, blood puddled around the dead man._

 _Karin watched the whole thing, it scared her and gasped. Itachi heard the gasp and looked to see Karin standing almost 6 feet away from him, looking at him shock, scared, and sad and having both her hands over her mouth. Karin looked into Itachi's eyes and saw that they were black and red designed in, three black spiralling curves around the pupil, they were cold. Itachi faced his body towards Karin._

 _"T-that must be his mangekyou sharingan Fugaku explained to me weeks ago..." Karin thought._

 _Karin slowly took her hands from over her mouth and put them together near her chest, she sadly looked down at all of the dead bodies before she looked at him again._

 _"I-itachi... w-why did you kill them...?" Karin whispered sadly to him then she closed her eyes. "J-just why? The Uchiha clan and the Uzumaki clan have been close allies.. for generations..."_

 _Itachi reached into his pouch with his left hand and pulled out a shuriken._

 _Karin slowly opened her eyes again. "... I-I just don't know why would you do something like thi-" she stopped and her eyes widened when she saw Itachi threw a shuriken at her._

 _The shuriken flew past her on the right side and landed on a house behind her. She suddenly felt a sting and something wet slide down the right side of her face. She put slowly put her right hand on her right cheek and looked down at it to see blood on it. She looked at Itachi in shock._

 _"You really are foolish like my little brother and our 2 clans." Itachi said cold and harshly._

 _"Huh? S-sasuke.. did he do something to him...?" Karin thought worriedly._

 _"W-what did you do to Sasuke?" Karin said sadly and worriedly._

 _"He's unconscious right now..." Itachi said._

 _Karin was relieved to hear that but she didn't show it._

 _"He'll be dead soon just like you will be." Itachi said._

 _Karin backed away a little in fright._

 _"But let me show you something before I kill you." Itachi said before his eyes widened at Karin. "You'll be joining some of the others soon."_

 _"Wait?! Others...? So that means some of the clan are still... alive..." Karin thought._

 _Karin suddenly felt this wave of energy and the scene change to the people that Itachi killed was alive again and the background was red and everyone was doing what they usually do. She wanted to warn them._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _Months ago._

 _"So Itachi made up his mind, he himself tried to drop the curtain on his own clan and Uzumaki clan history, but couldn't fully do it. Of course he did not hate the Uchiha nor the Uzumaki, he simply did what he had to. The discrimination by the village... and the object of their antagonism. He shouldered all the blame himself. No one should ever question Itachi's decision and the sacrifices he made." Tobi said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at Itachi, sweating a little bit. He started to remember the dead bodies of half the Uchiha clan when he returned, talking to Itachi before he placed him under a genjutsu.

"Now explain it, why half?! Why, why did you spare the halves?!" Sasuke asked, yelling as he looked up.

Karin looked at Sasuke. _"I know me and Sasuke saw it for ourselves but... this effected him more than me."_ she thought.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _Months ago._

 _"He just couldn't bring himself to kill the other halves. Do you understand what that means?" Tobi asked._

 _Flashback Ends._

...

Sasuke looked back at Itachi. "Why spare the halves?! What's different about this half verses the other half, why only half?!" he asked.

"Because you and Karin didn't know anything. You 2 had no part in the Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan follies. You 2 were just children. And half of them decided not to go through with it." Itachi said.

Karin quickly became angry and turned to Itachi when she heard him say that. She couldn't sense that he was lying but she couldn't trust him. "Liar! You tried to kill me that day! When I witnessed you killing a member of my clan!" she said.

"I wasn't going to kill you, I let you believe that because I knew Sasuke was coming so I purposely let him save you." Itachi said.

Karin anger decreased a little bit as she stayed silent now.

"And you think I did it just for you, Sasuke? I wanted you to grow up and judge me. I deserved to be dealt with only by another Uchiha. And so, I took advantage of the hatred inside you. That's why I failed." Itachi questioned.

Sasuke and Karin continued to stare at Itachi.

"Ultimately I only filled you with hatred and you and Karin go rogue. I turned you 2 into criminals!" Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin started to remember some of their memories from their past.

"Even though all I ever really wanted was for you to walk the right path... Back before I died, I-I tried to lead you down the path to righteousness, down a path without any forks or turns... I changed the sign posts on it with lies and my Visual Prowess." Itachi said.

"What I was supposed to happily walk that one path, ignorant of everything?!" Sasuke questioned.

Itachi didn't say anything.

"I couldn't... I never could've walked that path!" Sasuke said.

"Yeah.. You're absolutely right. You ought to decide your journey for yourself." Itachi said.

"No matter how you try to rewrite the sign posts, my eyes can strip away all of your lies!" Sasuke said.

Itachi smiled as he laughed a little bit.

"What's so damn funny?!" Sasuke asked.

"Nothing... I'm just realizing that the sign posts were not your only guides." Itachi said, thinking of Naruto.

Karin immediately knew what Itachi meant. _"Oniisan."_ she thought.

Sasuke became surprised.

Itachi stopped smiling as he looked at Sasuke. "Properly speaking, I'm a dead man now." he said then looked forward. "There's no point in talking any further."

"When you were alive, you never paid any attention to me. Always flicking my forehead, say 'forgive me' and running off! And even now that you're dead, you're still running away from me?!" Sasuke asked, yelling.

"I'm not running away from you. As I told you, there's something important I have to do." Itachi said. _"I must stop... the Reanimation Jutsu."_ he thought.

...

15 minutes later.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin were still hopping from tree to tree.

Karin gasped when she felt a powerful but strange chakra nearby. _"What is this? Who is this person?!"_ she thought.

Itachi looked back at Sasuke and Karin, who were still following him, before he quickly made summoning hand signs with both hands as he summoned a few crows on them.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin became surprised as they stopped on branches and covered their eyes as they tried to fend off the crows.

 _"Damn!"_ Sasuke thought.

"I need you 2 to stay here." Itachi said then headed forward.

...

A few minutes later.

Sasuke and Karin were still trying to get the crows away from them. Karin pulled out a kunai from her right sleeve with her right hand and started stabbing some of them. She suddenly stopped when all of the crows were all were now dead.

Karin opened her eyes as she lowered her kunai to see Sasuke holding his sword with his right hand as he was standing a few feet away from her. "Thanks, Sasuke." she said, putting her kunai away in her medium sized grey pouch.

Sasuke put his sword back in it's holster with his right hand. "Which way did he went?" he asked.

"Over here." Karin said jumped into the trees as she started hopping.

Sasuke followed after Karin.

"There's someone near Itachi." Karin said.

Sasuke looked at Karin. "Do you recognize the chakra?" Sasuke asked.

"No! But, this chakra... has a real nasty feel to it and and it's powerful!" Karin said. "We have to hurry to see who it is."

...

A few minutes later.

Sasuke and Karin jumped off of the trees as they made it to a cave.

"Is Itachi in there?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, along with that other chakra." Karin said.

Sasuke and Karin walked into the cave as they looked around for Itachi and the mysterious chakra. As they went further into the cave they heard a male voice and Itachi talking.

 _"That voice sounds familiar."_ Karin thought.

The unknown male laughed. "I just my luck hasn't run out quite yet! Yeh, Itachi!" he said.

"No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." Itachi said then closed his eyes. "So true."

Sasuke and Karin stopped a few feet away from Itachi and the unknown man.

"We've finally caught up with you. What the hell are doing in such a-?" Sasuke asked but was cut off.

"That man." Karin said, looking at the the unknown man.

Sasuke looked at the unknown man, who looked to be 24 years, had beige scaly skin, shoulder length ash-grey hair, yellow eyes with slitted pupils, around which were similar to Orochimaru's characteristic purple markings, a long white snake also fuses with his abdomen, which he wraps around his waist and which sometimes slithers under or behind him like a tail, in his usual outfit, black rimmed circular glasses, long black pants, and a maroon-coloured cloak with a hood designed to resemble a serpent's head, with white, red, and yellow markings that resemble eyes, had chess board and pieces as he was sitting behind an unconcious Anko, now 28 years old and in her usual outfit, was laying on her back before he became surprised and moved to the left side.

"Orochimaru?! Is that you?! Sasuke asked.

The unknown man laughed a little bit. "Close but not quite." he said.

"I know that voice! Kabuto!" Sasuke said.

 _"Kabuto, he must've changed myself. No wonder I wasn't able to recognize him."_ Karin thought.

Kabuto smirked. "And now, with perfect timing, my insurance for military cooperation comes along with a girl waltzing in of his own accord. Lady Luck must love me." he said.

Itachi opened his eyes.

"What are you talking about? What are you 2 doing in this hidden cave?" Sasuke asked.

"It's all a little tangled, but please let me try to explain." Kabuto said.

"Go ahead and meanwhile I'll make you stop the Reanimation jutsu." Itachi said then placed his hands together.

"This jutsu has no weaknesses. It has no risks. I want you to understand that Itachi. I already told you once. And besides, even if you do make a move, I doubt Sasuke-kun and possibly Karin-chan will just quietly stand back and watch. If you rush, you may not succeed even if it were possible conversely." Kabuto said.

Itachi put his hands apart as he placed his arms down.

"Kabuto! Answer my question now!" Sasuke said.

"Looks like I really have no choice but to talk. You've got me there, Sasuke-kun. In any event, while you 2 were asleep, recovering from having Sasuke's brother's eyes transplanted into you, something rather momentous has happened in our world." Kabuto said.

"The war." Karin said.

"You mean that Tobi started to war, right?" Sasuke questioned.

"So you 2 do know a little bit at least, but yes that is truth, The Fourth Great Ninja War. Tobi and I are currently facing the Fire Nation, the Wind Nation, the Water Nation, the Earth Nation, and the Lightning Nation. The 5 Great Nations have joined forces to create the 'The Allied Shinobi Forces' to fight against us." Kabuto said.

"That's impossible, you won't win!" Karin said.

"There's no way the 2 of you can fight against all the 5 Great Nations!" Sasuke said.

"Oh but we can and that's just what we're doing! We have 100,000 mass production models of White Zetsu. And then there are the Reanimated Squads I created. Kinkaku and Ginkaku. The former members of the 7 ninja swordsmen of the Mist. The Second Tsuchikage. The Third Raikage. The Second Mizukage. The Fourth Kazekage. And Madara Uchiha. Frankly, if I kept listing names, we'd be here all day. But your brother over there is also one of the ones that I reanimated." Kabuto said.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Itachi.

"Well?" Kabuto asked.

Sasuke and Karin looked back at Kabuto.

"You have to admit I'm pretty awesome. Though I'll concede that this whole plan was developed by Madara Uchiha." Kabuto said.

"What do you mean by that?" Sasuke said.

"Just like the 2 of you. He has a grudge against the shinobi world. And so, he came up with Project Tsuki no Me." Kabuto said.

"Project Tsuki no Me?" Sasuke asked.

Karin's eyes widened a little bit. "I heard of that." she said.

"To use the the 10 Tails to place the entire surface of the Earth under one vast genjutsu." Kabuto said.

Sasuke and Karin became surprised.

"And thereby control the whole world. To achieve that goal, we need to obtain Naruto'-kuns Nine Tails and Killer B's Eight Tails. And just about now, Madara is causing a ruckus on the battle field in order to get them." Kabuto said.

 _"Oniisan."_ Karin thought, worried.

"So that's it, that's the tale of the war." Kabuto said.

Sasuke looked at Itachi. "There's one thing I don't get. What's a Reanimated shinobi like you doing here?" he asked.

Karin looked at Itachi again.

"Your attempt to kill is real." Sasuke said.

"The answer here is simple, I'm not understand his control any longer." Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Itachi a moment longer before they turned back at Kabuto.

"That is indeed the case. I must hand it to you Itachi Uchiha. Imagine over riding the Reanimation jutsu with your genjutsu. Most ninja wouldn't even think of that." Kabuto said.

"I'm sorry but I simply can't stand taking orders from others." Itachi said.

"Oh that point we are in complete agreement." Kabuto said.

"But you haven't answered any of my questions!" Sasuke said.

"Sasuke-kun, haven't you learned yet? You seem to be under the peculiar impression that all you have to do is ask and somebody will give you the answer." Kabuto questioned. "You really haven't changed a bit since the days when you were the popular one at the Academy. However, Karin has changed."

Karin made a serious face.

"What's in character? Getting what I want with brute force?" Sasuke questioned.

"Only joking. Now don't forget while your big brother's here..." Kabuto said.

Sasuke looked at Itachi.

"To destroy you, Kabuto." Itachi said.

"Well, you heard him." Kabuto said.

Sasuke looked back at Kabuto again.

"Reanimation... of all the forbidden techniques you could steal, this one is most tiresome." Itachi said.

"Hey, now. It's thanks to this technique that you two are having this heartwarming reunion. I was hoping for a little more gratitude." Kabuto said.

"The Reanimation jutsu can't control what's in the heart. You've discreted souls that were purified. And continued to spread unnecessary sadness and hate." Itachi said.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"Can you understand the pain of the dead who are forced to fight? To say nothing of the feelings of those who yet live. They finally overcome the tragedy and the sorrow. Only for your technique to throw it back in their face." Itachi questioned.

"Well, this is a bit of a surprise. That someone who slaughtered half of the Uchiha clan and the Uzumaki clan in cold blood turns out to have such a soft heart." Kabuto said. "So does that mean you secretly regret what you did back then, if so I'm not interested in the slightest?"

"Say what you want, you will still die here." Itachi said.

Kabuto looked up at Itachi. "Sasuke-kun, Karin-chan. You 2 want to defeat Itachi Uchiha, the enemy of the Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan, once again." he said. "After all, I've brought him back to this world. In other words, you're little more than a bothersome presence to Sasuke-kun, Karin-chan, and myself. How about it? Why don't the 3 of us work together this one time and defeat Itachi here? Me and Sasuke share the same serpentine power and the same master-"

"He was no master of mine!" Sasuke said, moving his right arm around for a moment.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"Besides, it's you don't know anything do you." Sasuke said. "Me and Karin only came here chasing after Itachi so that I can talk to him."

Kabuto looked up at Sasuke. "So whose side might you 2 be on right now?" he asked.

Karin was thinking as she was against Itachi for many reasons but she also wanted the Reanimation jutsu to stop.

Sasuke quickly took out 3 shurikens and threw them at Kabuto with his right hand. But Itachi deflected Sasuke's shurikens by throwing 3 shurikens with his left hand.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Itachi.

"What'd you do that?! This guy's just like Orochimaru. That makes him my enemy." Sasuke asked. "Right now, he's your enemy, too isn't he?"

"I hear you, Sasuke. And we will talk later." Itachi said then looked at Sasuke. "First, we need to take this one down, but don't kill him."

Sasuke and Karin at Itachi confused.

"If you kill the caster of the Reanimation jutsu, it can never be undone. First, will put him under my Tsukuyomi and we'll make him tell us how to stop this jutsu. Then, while he's still under Tsukuyomi, I will take control of him and do so." Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin looked back at Kabuto, who was now standing up and looking at the 3 of them.

"That was an eloquent summary of how you plan to defeat me. Thank you for that. It would be nice for you if things went that smoothly, but this jutsu has no weaknesses and no risks, as I-." Kabuto said but was cut off.

"Every technique has a flaw that can become weakness." Itachi said.

Kabuto became confused.

"This jutsu's weakness has risks... It's simply me." Itachi said before he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan then stepped forward.

"Itachi! You always kept lying to me. Saying things like next time and later and then you died on me." Sasuke said then stepped forward.

Karin followed Sasuke.

"So this time for sure, I'm gonna hold you to your promise." Sasuke said, placing his left hand on his rope around his waist.

"We're temporary allies now because I don't want the Reanimation jutsu to continue anymore, but we're still enemies." Karin said.

Sasuke and Karin stopped beside Itachi.

"They say a person's character never changes until they die, but I have already died once already. I plan to honour it." Itachi said.

"So the brothers and the Uzumaki woman are ganging up on me?" Kabuto asked smirking, sticking his tongue out. "This should be fun." raising his hands as he summoned 6 snakes around him.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin watched as Kabuto lowered his hood over his eyes with both hands.

"Don't stare at me. Bookish types like me aren't used to being stared at." Kabuto said then lowered his hands.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin were now cautious.

"But genjutsu countermeasure." Sasuke said.

"We must watch him at all times." Karin said.

Kabuto's snakes hissed at them.

"The way those snakes are moving, they can sense exactly where the 3 of us are." Itachi said.

"Well some snakes are able to perceive body heat and they can smell the air by using their tongues." Sasuke said.

"It seems you'd studied a lot. You're like a snake expert." Itachi said.

Sasuke smirked. "Of course I did. I had to take down Orochimaru." he said.

"Because he was in a weakened state." Karin said.

Sasuke stopped smirking when Karin said that.

Kabuto placed his hands together. "However, being a snake expert will not help you take me down. I chose this battle field and nature is my ally." he said.

All of Kabuto's snakes slithered forward and were now bigger.

Sasuke and Karin became a bit nervous as they noticed the change.

 _"The snakes have gotten are bigger!"_ Sasuke thought.

 _"They're larger. How's that possible?!"_ Karin thought.

"Does this terrain give him an advantage? Be wary of, Sasuke, Karin." Itachi said.

"Traps? Oh no, that's not what I meant!" Kabuto said.

All of Kabuto's snakes charged towards Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin, who quickly backed away as the snakes made gravel. The 3 of them continued to dodge as the snakes continued making gravel before they stopped then Itachi and Sasuke, who activated his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, activated their Susano'o skeletons.

Kabuto looked at Itachi and Sasuke's charcoal Susano'os. "That's the Susano'o, right?" he asked.

Karin used her Chakra Enhanced Strength with her left fist on 2 of the snakes as they fell dead then she watched as Itachi's Susano'o's 4 hands grabbed the 4 snakes with his Susano'o as Sasuke cut off 2 of the snakes heads with his Susano'o's sword with his upper left hand.

"Good work, Karin. But don't get too violent, Sasuke! Remember, I told you not to kill him!" Itachi said.

"It seems that he's acquired Orochimaru's power. He won't go down as easy as that!" Sasuke said before he ran towards Kabuto.

Karin noticed that Kabuto's chakra had divided into 3. _"What's he planning?"_ she thought.

Itachi's Susano'o's right hands pulled back the remaining 2 snakes to him.

Kabuto grunted as he fell backwards.

"Sasuke!" Itachi said.

"The hood! I know!" Sasuke said.

"Sasuke, wait! There's something wrong!" Karin said.

Sasuke's Susano'o's right hand unhooded Kabuto's cloak to reveal 3 snakes.

Itachi and Sasuke became surprised.

"What's that?!" Sasuke asked.

The 3 snakes started jumped out of the cloak and headed for Itachi.

"Why that-!" Sasuke said before he grabbed the now empty cloak with his lower right hand.

The 3 snakes changed directions as they were slithering on the rocks to hide.

Sasuke spotted one of them before he grabbed his sword with his right hand and threw it as pierced one of the snakes tails to the cave rock.

The snake slithered from the sword as it's tail was split.

"Karin, can you sense where Kabuto is?" Sasuke asked.

"Not right now since he divided his chakra." Karin said, closing her eyes and held her hands together.

"You're taking this bookish thing a little too far. First, you hide your face, and now your entire body Kabuto?" Sasuke questioned.

Everyone stayed silent as Sasuke released Kabuto's cloak as it fell on the ground.

"Did you just molt to make a getaway? All you have is what you took from Orochimaru. You're still nothing!" Sasuke asked.

"Sasuke... You underestimate me. Well, then again, I was listed lower than you on the danger scale in the Bingo Book... And of course I'm nothing compared to Orochimaru-sama." Kabuto said.

Sasuke activated his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan more. "That's for sure. Especially if this is what you consider hiding." he said, seeing chakra.

"No, Sasuke! I just told you, there are pieces of his chakra everywhere..." Karin said.

Sasuke looked around to see more pieces of chakra.

"It's hard to tell which is the real one." Karin said.

Itachi noticed that the snakes his Susano'o was holding were melting.

"It's the ability to transform one's flesh into liquid. To detach and separate using one's own life substance. That's why it looks like a shedding. I've researched and applied the Hozuki Clan's flesh Transforming ability to this technique. You 2 know who I mean, right? Suigetsu. He can transform from human to water and back to human again. Plus, I have the amazing ability to recuperate quickly. I'll admit it's a healing technique I studied from the Konoha documents and from the body of an Uzumaki clan woman, Karin." Kabuto asked.

Karin quickly opened her eyes as she became shocked. _"He copied me and my Clan's technique!"_ she thought.

Sasuke became angry. "You copied that from Karin?" he asked.

"Yes and it's a special trait of those with Uzumaki blood is their red hair. And their life force is tenacious as a cockroach's. Now then, you must be thinking about the last member of your team. Or perhaps you're no longer comrades. At any rate, you have a discerning eye to have chosen those 3." Kabuto said.

Karin looked down at the ground at what Kabuto just said.

"Karin." Sasuke said, unactivated his Susano'o but the purple aura stayed.

Karin looked up at Sasuke to see that he was nodding 'no' to her before she started sensing again.

"In the Shinobi World, those without talent are nothing. But then those who lack talent can just steal it from those who do possess it." Kabuto said.

Karin sensed a chakra increased.

"Do you have Jugo's abilities too? You seem too..." Sasuke asked then looked to the left side. "Did you receive a curse mark from Orochimaru?!"

"No!" Kabuto said.

"Sasuke." Karin said.

Sasuke looked at Karin to see that she was pointing to the forward with her right index finger. He looked in that direction.

Karin put her right arm down as she, Itachi, and Sasuke to see an explosion happened as dust covered some of the air and it cleared up to reveal 4 large snakes.

"That thing is just a temporary boost. This power is something I actually mastered myself... at Ryuchi Cave!" Kabuto said.

Itachi became shocked. "Ryuchi Cave?! Can't be!" he asked.

The 4 snakes started to combine with each other.

"Yes, that's right. I found it. A place as legendary as Mount Myoboku and the Shikkotsu Woods!" Kabuto said.

Sasuke and Karin were both on guard as the snakes started to melt.

"Orochimaru-sama was not the only one to have reached it. I went there... and trained under the guidance of the White Snake Sage and awakened this ability. And I was able to surpass Orochimaru-sama at long last." Kabuto said.

The 4 snakes stopped liquifying as one of the snakes started to spit up something and Kabuto's right arm came out of it's mouth.

"I did it!" Kabuto said.

Sasuke activated his skin Susano'o as it's upper right hand had an arrow and it's upper left hand had a bow before it started to aim.

Karin pointed her right index finger at the center. "There!" she said.

Sasuke's skin Susano'o shot the arrow at what Karin was pointing at.

"Wait you 2! Don't be impatient!" Itachi said.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin waited for a moment before they saw that the arrow hit below.

"Nuh uh ah." Kabuto said, waving his right hand arrow.

"Do dodged it? The Susano'o arrow." Sasuke questioned, shocked.

"How did he redirect it?" Karin said surprised, lowering her right arm.

"My sensory ability is far better than it used to be. Nature Energy is my ally now as I mentioned before. Maybe even better than yours, Karin." Kabuto said.

Karin made a serious face.

"Nature Energy?" Itachi asked, unactivating his Susano'o but the orange-red aura stayed. _"I knew it. So he does have..."_ he thought.

"Just listen, I'll explain... The members of Jugo's clan have always had special bodies that are able to absorb Nature Energy. That's the secret behind those rampages. The ability causes them to suddenly become more powerful and wild. Orochimaru-sama wasn't interested in Jugo's rampages... so much in the origin of his clan's power." Kabuto said.

 _"So that's the reason why Jugo wanted to be locked up."_ Karin thought.

"And he finally tracked down the source of the power and it's well spring was the Ryuchi Cave. Orochimaru-sama immediately tried to acquire that power. However, he didn't yet possess a body that could tolerate it. That's why..." Kabuto said before he started coming out of one of the snakes mouth.

Itachi and Sasuke were serious but Karin was serious and disgusted at the same time.

Kabuto, who now had 4 horns on his head, was on his hands and feet as he was completely out of the snake's mouth. "Orochimaru-sama was not able to become the perfect Sage... not like the one I have now become! No." he said.

"I see... As I thought... you're using Sage Mode power." Itachi said.

Sasuke smirked. "You're just like Orochimaru! You're just a disgusting snake!" he said.

Kabuto stood up. "You ought to know better, you snake expert... I'm no longer a snake." he said.

Sasuke made a serious face again.

"My perfect Sage power has allowed me to shed that snakeskin..." Kabuto said before he placed his hands together as he made a hand sign and a burst of wind came. "And I am now a dragon!"

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin were on guard as the wind blew before it stopped.

Kabuto made another hand sign and his snake eyes closed, his cheeks and stomach puffing out "Sage Art: White Extreme Attack!" he said, his cheeks and stomach were normal again as a spirit dragon and dark purple orb came out of his mouth and to the center of the cave.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin were surprised before Itachi ran towards Sasuke and Karin.

As the dragon and dark purple orb were now spinning, Sasuke and Karin were on guard.

When Itachi stopped near Sasuke and Karin, the dragon disappeared as the orb burst as a bright white light appeared with a loud sound.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin quickly closed their eyes and covered their ears.

Sasuke and Karin screamed in pain a little.

 _"My ears... And my bones... They feel like they're being grated."_ Sasuke thought.

 _"When is this torturing sound going to stop?!"_ Karin thought.

 _"It's a jutsu that uses light and sound to impair vision and hearing... It causes the air to oscillate to paralyze the senses, freezing you in place."_ Itachi thought then opened his eyes a little to see some of the rock breaking and Kabuto running.

 _"With my snake cornea, I can shut my sight off and block the light. By turning my body to liquid I can simply flow with sound and vibration. Thanks to my sage mode powers I'm the only one who can move in these conditions."_ Kabuto said, running towards the 3 of them.

Karin could sense Kabuto coming towards them but couldn't do anything because of the sound and light.

 _"It's no use! I can't hold the Susano'o!"_ Sasuke thought, his skin Susano'o disappearing.

 _"I need to go after Itachi. I'll rewrite the Paper Seal in his head and make him my pawn again. Or even better..."_ Kabuto thought, running towards Sasuke.

Kabuto opened his mouth as he was almost towards Sasuke but Itachi activated his Susano'o right hand and covered Sasuke. Kabuto stopped and jumped back on the left side.

The light and sound started to disappear.

"Itachi... Somehow you always seem to find me don't you?" Kabuto questioned. "Are you sensing my chakra like Karin is?"

A few moments later, the light and sound disappeared.

"But... wait a minute here..." Kabuto said before he started to remember the conversation he had with Itachi earlier. "Hold on, I remember you said something about back when I was still controlling you. So now that I'm not doing that any longer you can't sense my chakra can you?"

Itachi opened his eyes completely and looked at Kabuto.

"Are you trying to fool me with your lies again?" Kabuto asked.

Itachi lowered his hands to his shoulders. "I never said I was the one who was able to sense your chakra. I couldn't sense your chakra. Only Nagato was able to do that and he relayed the information to me. I have no such ability." lowering his arms.

Sasuke and Karin opened their eyes and lowered their arms before they looked over at Kabuto.

"Besides, even now, I know what your target is anyway. I do have instincts you know. I'm able to detect that which I think you'll most want to attack. If a man is cautious and opportunistic as you want Sasuke... you will go for him first. Your best chance to capture Sasuke is now, before the 3 of us figures out your jutsu. And then after that, you can use my brother to try to stop me and Karin." Itachi said then made his right Susano'o arm disappear.

"What sets you apart the most from the rest of your Uchiha Clan bretheren is that you have true Visual Prowess... You have the ability to peer into and read people's souls. And then use what you learn in battle. That is why you were so good at deceiving people... You died lying in the first place, that makes you a dirty lying ninja through and through!" Kabuto said.

 _"That's true."_ Karin thought.

Sasuke became angry and activated his Chidori with his left hand and turned it into a long blade to attack Kabuto.

Kabuto immediately jumped and stopped stood up on the ceiling.

 _"He's on the ceiling!"_ Sasuke thought, unactivated his Chidori.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin looked up at Kabuto.

"You truly think that a makeshift team of 3 people who hate one another can outwit my perseption skills and stop me? And because you're brothers lied so much you really know nothing about him and you will never trust each other, Karin doesn't trust him..." Kabuto asked.

Sasuke glared at Kabuto.

Itachi walked forward. "Sasuke..." he said.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Itachi.

"Do you remember the time that you tagged along with me on my mission? The wild boar?" Itachi asked then stopped.

"What? You mean that mission you 2 were on years ago?" Karin asked.

Sasuke smirked as he remembered some of it. "Oh yeah that. I remember." he said.

Kabuto became confused. "A wild boar...?" he asked.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _9 years ago._

 _Day Time._

 _Konohagakure._

 _Uchiha clan Compound._

 _Fugaku and Mikoto's House._

 _Itachi, 13 years old and in his Anbu outfit, was sitting down by the shoji doors as he was putting on his sandals with both hands and stood then looked behind him. "I'm heading out. " he said then turned forward as he stepped towards the shoji doors and slid one of them open with his right hand and stepped out to see Sasuke, 8 years old and in an Anbu uniform, and had a bow in his left hand and arrows in a holster behind him. "It's you...?!"_

 _Sasuke smiled. "I heard you're going on a wild boar hunt, Niisan!" he said._

 _Itachi closed the shoji door with his left hand and walked on the left side._

 _Sasuke followed after Itachi. "I heard that it's incredibly huge as big as a monster. It's bad because it's tearing up the fields and ruining them. That's why you're going on the mission to take it down aren't you? And your doing it by yourself isn't that right? But don't worry, it'll be okay because I'm gonna come with you too." he asked. "You know right, that I'm a really good Archer. But you should know we've been hunting together a lot a bunch of times before." he asked._

 _When Itachi suddenly stopped, Sasuke stopped as well._

 _Itachi turned around and looked at Sasuke before he called him over with his left hand. Sasuke became confused as he walked towards Itachi._

 _Itachi held up his left index and middle fingers as he poked Sasuke on his forehead._

 _Sasuke closed his eyes as he stepped back a little._

 _"Sorry, Sasuke. Some other time." Itachi said._

 _Sasuke looked up at Itachi before Itachi disappeared. "No!" he said then started running. "Niisan!"_

 _Itachi was now jumping away._

 _"Niisan, wait!" Sasuke said._

 _..._

 _20 minutes later._

 _Itachi was sitting on top of a small wooden house as he watched a giant brown wild boar squeal and break things before it eats vegetables. He heard a sound and turned around to see Sasuke standing on the ground and his hands on his knees panting._

 _"I'm surprised that you caught up." Itachi said._

 _Sasuke stopped panting as he looked up at Itachi. "Yeah, well I've been training..." he said._

 _"Climb up here." Itachi said._

 _Sasuke smiled. "Okay!" he said, nodding._

 _..._

 _2 minutes later._

 _From left to right, Itachi and Sasuke were standing on the roof as they looked down at the wild boar._

 _"That's it, right?" Sasuke asked._

 _Itachi looked down at Sasuke. "Don't kill it." he said._

 _Sasuke looked up at Itachi, confused. "Huh?" he asked._

 _"Just hurt it, and it will return to the mountain." Itachi said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

"Karin, can you please stand somewhere else?" Itachi asked.

Karin glared at Itachi. "No, you're not the boss of me." she said.

"Karin." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Sasuke.

"It's okay, just for awhile." Sasuke said.

Karin sighed for a moment. "Fine." she said then jumped on the left side of the cave before she started to watch the scene.

"Let's go." Itachi said.

"Yeah." Sasuke said before an purple aura was around him.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"Don't hit a vital spot." Itachi said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Itachi and Sasuke activated their skin Susano'os.

"I got it!" Sasuke said.

Itachi ran towards Kabuto as Sasuke's skin Susano'o aimed an arrow at Kabuto. Itachi's skin Susano'o threw 3 shurikens around Kabuto, covered himself with his hands.

"Right now!" Sasuke said before his skin Susano'o shot an arrow as it pierced Kabuto's stomach snake on the cave ceiling then he smirked.

Kabuto fell off of the ceiling before he started reaching for Sasuke's sword.

Sasuke made a serious face. "Watch out! He's going to steal my blade and cut off his own tail to escape!" he said.

Itachi jumped up after Kabuto as he unactivated his skin Susano'o.

Kabuto grabbed Sasuke's sword with his right hand and stabbed him in chest.

Sasuke became shocked.

Karin sensed something strange with Itachi. _"I know it's a clone but... it has this strange feeling."_ she thought.

"That's why he told you not to be so impatient." Kabuto said as his stomach snake started to liquify.

Itachi activated his Mangekyo Sharingan more before he burst into crows as a bright white light appeared.

 _"What is this stange feeling?"_ Karin thought.

Kabuto tried moving away from crows as he dropped Sasuke's sword with his right hand. Itachi grabbed it with his right hand.

Kabuto grunted when Itachi cut off his upper right horn with Sasuke's sword. The light and the crows stopped.

Itachi and Kabuto landed on the ground as Kabuto's upper right horn fell on the ground.

Sasuke, who unactivated his skin Susano'o, smirked before he and Karin walked over to Itachi.

Kabuto felt his cut off upper right horn with his right hand. "Oh yeah that's right these things are new. I totally forgot that I had these horns up here now. Oh well." he said, lowering his right hand as he faced Itachi.

Sasuke stood on the left side of Itachi while Karin stood on the right side of Itachi.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _Sasuke took out an arrow from his holster with his right hand and aimed his arrow at the wild boar as Itachi jumped into the air threw 4 explosive attached kunai around the wild boar with his left hand. The wild boar stood still as the explosions happened._

 _"Right now!" Sasuke said before he shot his arrow at the wild boar but missed, making himself surprised._

 _The wild boar looked up at Sasuke angrily before it ran it's left hoof into the dirt before he squealed loudly and ran towards Sasuke._

 _Within moments, Sasuke yelling and flying into the air with some of the now broken house. He fell on the ground and stood up to see the wild boar running towards him. Sasuke pulled out another arrow with his right hand and was about to aim the arrow but he closed his eyes as he waited for the wild boar to come. He suddenly heard a loud squeal and the ground shaking before he opened his eyes to see Itachi standing on the now unconscious wild boar._

 _"Niisan..." Sasuke said._

 _Itachi jumped off the wild boar and turned to look up at it. "You completely missed, Sasuke." he said._

 _Sasuke looked down at the ground, sadly. "Sorry, Niisan..." he said._

 _"It seems you need to do more training." Itachi said. "Let's go home, Sasuke."_

 _Sasuke stopped looking down, but he was still sad._

 _Itachi smiled as he looked at Sasuke. "And I'll help you train when we get back." he said._

 _Sasuke smiled. "Okay!" he said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Itachi smiled as he looked at Sasuke. "It looks like now, you might be able to take down that giant wild boar now." he said.

Sasuke closed his eyes and smiled for a moment before he opened his eyes and had a serious look. "Except instead of a giant wild boar, we've got to take down that snake." he said, placing his left hand on his rope belt.

"Yeah..." Itachi said, still holding Sasuke's sword with his right hand.

Karin sighed. _"Which attacks should we use next?"_ she thought.

Everyone went silent for a moment as some of the cave ceiling dripped water.

Sasuke took his left hand off of his rope.

"It's so ironic..." Kabuto said, smirking.

"Oh, what's that?" Sasuke asked.

"Looking at the 2 brothers now, you think that the 2 of you were best friends. What happened to those brothers who fought so fiercely and hated each other? I know Karin-chan still hates him." Kabuto said.

Sasuke looked at Itachi as he remembered their battle before he looked back at Kabuto.

Kabuto raised his left hand. "All in all isn't very hard to guess. Something happened between you when you took Itachi down. But what exactly is it that you want to ask of a once dead man?" he asked, lowering his left hand.

Sasuke looked at Itachi again as his eyes turned to the Sharingan. "I want the truth." he said.

Karin looked at Sasuke, annoyed. _"Why? We were already told the truth, Danzo even admitted to us."_ she thought then looked back at Kabuto.

Itachi looked at Sasuke then looked back at Kabuto.

"Oh really, interesting. Could it be?" Kabuto asked then looked down, closing his eyes. "With the way that you're talking..." then opened his eyes as he looked up. "Do you really not trust Itachi after all? I know Karin doesn't trust in the slightest."

Sasuke looked at Kabuto again.

"Sasuke-kun. Karin-chan... Don't you 2 think that maybe you 2 already know the truth about Itachi." Kabuto said.

There was silence for a moment as Sasuke and Karin looked at Itachi.

Kabuto held up both of his hands. "Well, it's no wonder that you 2 didn't returned to the Hidden Leaf Village after defeating Itachi. No wonder you joined the Akatsuki, who sought the Leaf's destruction!" he said then lowered his arms.

Sasuke and Karin looked back at Kabuto.

"I see now... Now that I have all the pieces, it makes so much sense to me. That's reason why you intend to destroy the village that caused your brother such pain." Kabuto said.

Sasuke looked at Kabuto with more seriousness.

"Just as I thought, you aren't denying it." Kabuto said then placed his right index finger in between his glasses and lowered it. "So you 2 ran into your brother and followed him all the way down here to find out the truth once and for all of ask 'is that what happened back then' or what about that one other time too'. All the dirty details. I know Karin doesn't care either way because she'll despise Itachi no matter what."

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"But like I already told you 2, your brother is a liar! Trust me. I know." Kabuto said, pointing his right index finger at them. "So doesn't it seem just a bit odd?"

Sasuke and Karin became interested.

Kabuto lowered his right arm again. "Itachi was willing to kill half of his own clan and half of the Uzumaki clan as well to protect the Hidden Leaf Village. Isn't that an indirect opposition to what you 2 trying to do now?" he asked then raised up his right index finger to point at himself. "However, I'm the one who wants exactly the same thing that you 2 yearn for, right, Sasuke-kun, Karin-chan? Orochimaru-sama couldn't complete his operation to destroy the Leaf and I inherited that task."

Sasuke and Karin became cautious.

"What?" Karin questioned.

Kabuto lowered his right arm. "I think you 2 should ponder that very carefully. Join me now and stab your tretcherous brother, Itachi in the back in the process. What you 2 don't even have to feel guilty, he's not even him. He's already dead. He's just an imitation." he said.

 _"He's right... but, I can't."_ Karin thought.

Sasuke closed his eyes as he started to remember what Tobi told him months ago and another incident.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"It was a mission to become known as a criminal who murdered half of his own clan and half of the Uzumaki clan, to bear the burden of disgrace and become a Rogue Ninja. All of that was part of the mission. Itachi almost completely fulfilled his duty, except for some mistakes. He could not bring himself to kill the other halves._

 _..._

 _A few months ago._

 _Restaurant._

 _From left to right, Tobi, in his usual outfit, and Sasuke were wearing beige hooded cloaks over them as they were sitting at the bar and quietly having tea. Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin were at one of the inns resting._

 _Far behind them, 4 Konoha male ninjas, in the Konoha flak jacket uniforms, one had short grey hair in a bandanna, one had short spiky dark brown hair, one had 1 point in his hair, and the last one had sandy brown hair in a bandanna, were on the floor at a 4 way table and having drinks and food._

 _Sasuke held up his cup with his right hand as he was about to drink some of it._

 _"We've received intel that Itachi Uchiha of the Akatsuki has died." the sandy brown haired man said._

 _Sasuke stopped midway and started to listen to their conversation._

 _"You should mark his entry in your Bingo Book and remove him, just cross him out." the dark brown haired man said._

 _The 4 of the men took out their bingo books and held them up._

 _"So that traitor is finally died has he." the sandy brown haired man said._

 _Sasuke held his cup of tea away from him._

 _The 4 Konoha male ninjas opened their bingo books to Itachi._

 _"I'm surprised. Who was able to kill someone that powerful, do you know?" the grey haired man asked._

 _"Looks like it was his little brother, Sasuke. Poetic that someone who killed half of his clan and the Uzumaki clan got taken down by his own kin." the dark brown haired man said._

 _The 4 Konoha male ninjas laid their bingo books on the table._

 _"Yeah, well it serves him right! After the atrocious things he did!" the sandy brown haired man said then looked down at Itachi's picture. "Not only did he join the Akatsuki but he also attacked the Leaf Village! He's the most notorious criminal in the Hidden Leaf history!"_

 _Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger as he placed his cup of tea down with his right hand._

 _The grey haired man took out a kunai with his left hand. "Damn it all, I wished that we'd gotten our hands on him first!" he said then stabbed Itachi's picture with the kunai._

 _Sasuke stood up from his seat as he activated his Sharingan._

 _The 1 point haired man unknowningly looked at Sasuke._

 _The grey haired man smiled. "Since Itachi's little brother took down such a special S-class criminal, I bet he'll get a ton of decorations and a large bounty from the nation and the village." he said._

 _The 1 point haired man looked back at his group._

 _"I wonder how much he'll get?" the grey haired man questioned._

 _"It's not a question of money. You're out of line." the dark brown haired man said._

 _"Well... I know, but..." the grey haired man said._

 _Sasuke took out a kunai from his left sleeve with his left hand and was about to turn around to attack them until Tobi placed his right hand on Sasuke's left shoulder as he stopped him._

 _"They don't know the truth... Besides, there are too many people here." Tobi said._

 _"Then I'll teach them the truth!" Sasuke said._

 _"Don't... Even if they try to confirm the truth about Itachi with their superiors, the Leaf's elders would denied it vehemently. The current and Fourth Hokage would probably wouldn't even tell them either to not start anymore problems. Furthermore... Itachi did in fact slaughtered half of his own clan and the Uzumaki clan and as an Akatsuki member, he pretended to attack the Hidden Leaf. No one would believe the truth... Look how long it took you and Karin." Tobi said._

 _Sasuke gritted his teeth in anger again. "For_ _bastards like them... He sacrificed everything for those who had branded him a traitor for these bastards... my niisan..." he said._

 _"This is exactly what Itachi wanted. If you do not like it, what is it that you want?" Tobi asked._

 _Flashbacks Ends._

 _..._

"No. We're not the same." Sasuke said then opened his eyes. "My operation to destroy the Leaf is nothing like yours!"

Kabuto looked at Karin. "What about you Karin? Would you like to join me?" he asked.

"Trust me, I really would like to because I can't stand Itachi and what all the things he did." Karin said.

Sasuke looked at Karin.

"However, my clan, are families, the Uchiha clan, and others are fighting in the war. And some of them are dying because it. As much as I want to, I have to think about them." Karin said.

Sasuke stared at Karin for a moment more before he looked back at Kabuto.

Kabuto stopped smirking as he stayed silent for a moment. "I can sympathize with Itachi. I understand his choice. Because honestly I'm just like him..." he said then fixed his glasses with his right hand for a moment before he lowered it. "It was nice and good being taken in by Leaf Shinobi, but because my background is a mystery, I was immediately raised to be a spy. Medical Ninjutsu was drilled into me just so enemies would come to trust me. I went from village to village spying... I pretended to be someone else, living a life of lies. There was no place and no space for the real me. With no friends or comrades who knew who I really was, I continued to work on suppressing myself and around the time I stopped knowing who I even was anymore the Hidden Leaf Village stopped trusting me and I was relieved of my mission. Both Itachi and I worked for the good of the Hidden Leaf, but in return, all we got back was just dishonor and disgrace! So you tell me, what in the world does the Leaf Village ever done for us?"

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin continued to stare at Kabuto.

"How Itachi lived is what led to the creation of the current you. And though I am still alive, something similar to you is born from me as well. Face it Sasuke-kun, other than Karin-chan there is no one who understands you better than I do. I'll be you and Karin-chan's big brother and I'll stick by both of your sides through thick and thin. Come, join me..." Kabuto said.

 _"I already have an older brother and I don't need another one."_ Karin thought.

"Sasuke, Karin." Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Itachi.

"Don't listen to him. He was an even greater spy than I was. Which means, he's even more skillful at lying than me and no matter what darkness and contradictions lie within the village I'm still Itachi Uchiha of the Leaf!" Itachi said.

Kabuto stopped smirking as he Sasuke and Karin continued to look at Itachi.

"Sasuke... It's my fault that you're like this right now. I know that I have no right to advise you in anyway... but I sencerely hope that you 2 will hear me out because I have to tell you something." Itachi said then looked at Sasuke.

Karin looked at Itachi serious while Sasuke looked at Itachi surprised before the 3 of them looked back at Kabuto.

"After we've settled things here... So help me stop him." Itachi said.

"I casted the Reanimation Jutsu, you cannot kill me and I can instantly recover from any wound you try to inflict. This is pointless. I've also shut off my vision, so the much hearted genjutsu of your visual prowess won't work either. You 3 have no chance because I cast it, the Reanimation Jutsu is invincible!" Kabuto said.

"It's really quite annoying listening to him talk but he's explained the situation well." Itachi said.

"It's annoying to hear your voice as well but you're still talking." Karin said.

Sasuke looked at Itachi again. "I know you don't need to tell me. I'll right, what should we do?" he asked.

"It's seems he doesn't know the true power of the Uchiha." Itachi said then stepped forward. "We have a visual jutsu that can be used against an opponent without eyesight. In exchange for losing a light in one's eyes."

Sasuke and Karin started to remember Sasuke's battle with Danzo.

"The Izunagi." Karin said.

"The Izunagi...?" Sasuke questioned.

Itachi looked at Sasuke and Karin, surprised.

"How do you 2 know about the Izunagi?" Itachi asked.

"Danzo used it against me, back when I had to fight him." Sasuke said.

"Well then, you're lucky to be alive." Itachi said.

Kabuto looked at Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin confused.

"Nevermind about that... How do we use Izunagi here?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi looked forward. "I'm not talking about Izunagi. But another forbidden jutsu considered it's other half." Itachi said.

"Another one?!" Sasuke asked.

"What?" Karin asked.

"I've already relayed the plan. An ultimate visual jutsu that holds his fate within his grasp, the Izunami!" Itachi said then ran towards Kabuto.

Sasuke and Karin became surprised as Kabuto, who had his chakra coated left hand raised, running towards Itachi, who had Sasuke's sword raised, before they clashed.

 _"Izunami?!"_ Sasuke thought.

 _"It's other half?"_ Karin thought.

Itachi and Kabuto clashed for a moment before they separated as Itachi landed on the left side of Sasuke while Kabuto landed a few meters away from them.

"If the Izunagi changes one's fate, the Izunami's a jutsu that decides it." Itachi said then made a stance. "Sasuke, Karin... Do not leave my side."

 _"A jutsu that decides one's fate? So there's another jutsu similar to Izunagi?!"_ Sasuke thought.

 _"How many forbidden jutsus does the Uchiha clan even have?"_ Karin thought.

"I confess that I don't entirely know what you're up to, but what ever it is nothing will work against me." Kabuto said then put his hands together as he made a hand sign, smirking. "Seems you still don't understand just what exactly I have become now. Sage Art: Inorganic Animation!"

The cave spikes came at Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin but Itachi summoned his left Susano'o hand to protect Sasuke and Karin by covering them. Itachi was pierced by the cave spikes.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Itachi.

Sasuke quickly became shocked. "Itachi!" he said, worried.

Itachi didn't say anything.

Kabuto separated his hands. "This jutsu brings inanimate objects to life and allows me to control them in any manner I see fit. It's different from a jutsu that just manipulates chakra." he said.

Itachi looked at Kabuto.

"A bit extreme, don't you think?" Kabuto questioned.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Kabuto.

"Protecting Sasuke-kun and Karin-chan with your Susano'o slowed you down. Oh well, but don't you worry. I would never harm Sasuke-kun and Karin-chan, they are my precious test subjects after all." Kabuto said then his stomach spit out a red paper attached kunai as he grabbed it with his right hand. "Now then... Time to rewrite that brain of yours with this. You know what will happen, right?" then ran towards Itachi.

Sasuke activated his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan as his left eye started to bleed. "Amaterasu!" he said.

Kabuto stopped when black flames covered his path as it circled around Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin.

Itachi unactivated his Susano'o left hand as Sasuke and Karin faced Kabuto. Kabuto's jutsu stopped working as the cave spikes went back into place as they removed themselves from Itachi, who was now crouching down on the ground.

"Well, it appears that the greatest offensive Visual Jutsu could also act as the greatest defense... It's so hot, the limestone cave has gone back to being just a cave." Kabuto said, looking around the cave.

"I'm sorry, Sasuke, Karin..." Itachi said.

"Unfortunately for you, this is my win. I'm so near the point where I'll be able to achieve and control everything... but I simply can't imagine myself failing at this stage of the game." Kabuto said. "All the laws and principles of nature was Orochimaru-sama complied and studied for so long are now stored and being used inside of me. I have evolved from human to snake to dragon. At this moment I'm the closest thing in the entire world to the Sage of 6 Paths. Compared to me, the Uchiha and Uzumaki are nothing-"

"Just shut up! You don't know the Uchiha nor the Uzumaki!" Sasuke yelled, angrily.

Karin looked at Kabuto annoyed.

Sasuke raised his fist midway. "You see...!" he said but was cut off by Itachi.

Itachi held up his left hand to Sasuke.

Sasuke looked down at Itachi surprised as he lowered both of his arms.

"Kabuto... When I look at you, it's like looking at my former self. And that's the reason you will lose..." Itachi said.

Sasuke looked at Kabuto seriously as the black flames rose up more.

"Look... I'm not on the sidelines anymore. I'm not just a player! I'm a central figure! I own this war! I have the Akatsuki twisted like around my little finger, and manipulated the war to my advantage, and I even pushed the 3 of you into a corner." Kabuto said.

"Make no mistake, Kabuto. I hate you. However, I also understand you. We've both lived as spies as liers, presenting a false front to the world. I didn't know who I was at one point either, but I finally understand now and to know oneself not to achieve everything and not to become perfect. Instead, it is to become aware of what one is and isn't capable of." Itachi said.

Kabuto smirked again. "That sounds like the vociferous of a loser. You're saying one should acknowledge and give up. What one cannot do." he said.

"I'm not, it is simply to forgive oneself for the things one cannot do alone. It's because you cannot do everything yourself, that you have comrades to help you. And also you should never ignore things one could still accomplish." Itachi said then closed his eyes. "If you want to know who and what you are... You must reexamine and acknowledge your true self. I failed to do that. I lied to everyone around me, I lied to myself, I was dilluted. Those who cannot or will not acknowledge themselves are sure to fail..." then opened his eyes. "Just like I have failed."

"What do you do imagine what you know about me, anyway? I have been pursuing what I am in my own way for the longest time. My whole life..." Kabuto questioned then started to tell them about his past.

"That's my first memory... I was a nobody and had nothing right from the very beginning. Nothing at all. I didn't know my parents... or even my own name..." Kabuto said.

...

"My name is symbolic. My eye glasses, a tool... From the very beginning, I was a nobody... From the very beginning... I had nothing. Nothing at all." Kabuto said.

...

"And that is why... I've kept on adding to myself." Kabuto said, finishing his story.

 _"Even back then, Danzo was a crooked bastard. And I can't believe they let him do that."_ Karin thought.

"So what I want right now is not your lecture. But instead your abilities and intel. Not only are you a Leaf Shinobi, you're of the famed Uchiha bloodline. You possess the Sharingan and you have awakened the Mangekyo..." Kabuto said then held up his left hand and placed his right hand on his right hip, smirking. "You also bore many secrets and stopped the war... And you have many jutsu and a lot of power. Itachi, you possessed many things that made you who you are. There is no finer foil to my Reanimation jutsu than you." then lowered his arms. "And my pawns are part of my power!"

"You exaggerate... The reality is, I failed." Itachi said.

"No." Kabuto said then walked forward. "Earlier, even though I may have mocked the Uchiha and Uzumaki names in front of you, I have to admit that I'm actually still quite envious of them."

Sasuke crouched down and picked up his sword with his right hand and stood up, looking down at his sword.

Itachi stood up as well. "The Uchiha and Uzumaki names nearly indicates a bloodline and clan memberships." he said.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Itachi.

"Their meanings was for you to claim them." Itachi said.

Kabuto stopped walking, starting to remember his past again. "Until I was given a name and a place to call home, you think that claiming a name is meaningless? It's not." he asked, making a serious face. "What does hold meaning from me!" then made hand signs with both hands.

Sasuke placed his sword back in it's holster with his right hand. "Are you sure it would be bad to kill him? As it is we're stuck playing catch-up!" he asked.

"Yes it is, this war will go on forever." Karin said.

"She's right and I already told you 2 no! He controls the battlefield right now. Be patient." Itachi said.

"Is the Izunami still not ready? He's about to come after us!" Sasuke asked.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Kabuto, who separated his hands as something was forming on his stomach snake.

"Don't worry you 2. I'm already on him. It's just going to take a little more time." Itachi said.

Kabuto's stomach snake formed Sakon. "Orochimaru-sama said this to me once..." he said. _"Sekon: Demon Twin Jutsu!"_ he thought then it formed into Jirobo. _"Jitobi! Earth Style: Terra Shield!"_

The ground started to shake before it split apart where Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin were, creating a lot of dust.

"If you want to know who and what you are, all you need to do is gather every last thing and piece of information that exists in this world!" Kabuto said, his stomach snake forming into Kidomaru. _"Kidomaru! Spiral Web!"_ he thought then made a web before he threw it around the cave.

"These strands can't be cut with a blade!" Sasuke said.

"Then what?" Karin questioned.

"Amaterasu!" Itachi and Sasuke said, their eyes bleeding.

Black flames covered the web as it broke apart.

Kabuto moved to the left side and stopped as he stomach snake now formed Kimimaro. _"Kimimaro! Macabre Bone Pulse! Bracken Dance!"_ he thought.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin looked at Kabuto as bone spikes came from the ground and headed towards them.

"He's laid down the spider silk all the way to the back." Sasuke said, looking at the web. "Me and Karin will get the one behind us! Take the front, Niisan! Can you still use the Susano'o?" activating his Susano'o and swords in the right arms

Itachi activated his Susano'o and sword in his right arm.

Sasuke and Karin ran together before they stopped.

"Inferno Style: Flame Control!" Sasuke said, separating the webs.

Itachi ran and broke the broke the bones.

Kabuto's Kimimaro made a flute before it transformed into Tayuya.

"They ran to the back, huh? Too bad it's no use!" Kabuto asked, smirking. _"Tayuya! Demon Flute: Chains of Fantasia!"_ he thought as the flute began to play.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin were beside each other again.

Itachi looked at Sasuke and Karin. "Are okay Sasuke, Karin?!" he asked.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin felt like their imprisoned in their own minds but still could move as they hid behind the 2 cave pillars.

Itachi and Sasuke unactivated their Susano'os.

"A genjutsu, huh?" Sasuke questioned.

"Even your precious Susano'o, cannot block out sound, can it?" Kabuto asked, walking over to them. "I knew it... Now that I've immobilized you. All that's left is..." then his Tayuya changed into Orochimaru. "To take you into me using Orochimaru-sama!"

Sasuke and Karin looked from the pillar to see Kabuto, shocked to see a large snake.

"Well, Sasuke, how about it? Do you remember this?! You recognize this current form of mine?" Kabuto asked.

 _"That's...!"_ Sasuke thought, remembering his last fight with Orochimaru.

"Thanks to you, I was finally able to take Orochimaru-sama into my own body after you killed him! That's right, I've achieved it at last. This is my true form...! Remember, I said that all the laws and principles of Nature, which Orochimaru-sama researched and complied for so long... are now in stored and being used inside of me. The only thing that was missing... was Orochimaru-sama himself! But now as you can see I possess in inside of me too!" Kabuto said. "I really can't thank you enough, Sasuke-kun!"

"Kabuto... You are not Orochimaru. It's fine to imitate someone you respect... But don't remake yourself into him, to that extent." Itachi said.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"You do realize majority of people start out by mimicking another person they admire don't you?" Kabuto asked.

Karin looked at Sasuke to see that he was looking forward.

"Just like the way Sasuke emulated you." Kabuto said.

Sasuke started to remember something 9 years ago.

...

 _Flashback._

 _Day Time._

 _Forest._

 _Sasuke, 8 years old and in his old usual outfit, was crouching down behind one of the trees and had his left hand on it as he was watching Itachi, 13 years old and in his old usual outfit, who was standing a few feet away from a large rock and targets._

 _Sasuke watched as Itachi jumped into the air then turned upside down, holding the kunais near him with his eyes closed. He became amazed as Itachi swiftly threw the kunais at the targets and became even more impressed when he used 2 kunais to hit the blindspot behind the boulder. Itachi landed on the ground and crouched down then opened his eyes as he had his Sharingan activated._

 _"Wow, Itachi! You nailed every target." Sasuke said smiling, standing up. "Even the one in the blind spot behind the rock!"_

 _Itachi stood up as he unactivated his Sharingan._

 _Sasuke turned as he held 2 kunais in both of his hands. "Alright, now it's my turn!" he said._

 _"No Sasuke! It's time to go." Itachi said._

 _Sasuke stopped smiling as he looked at Itachi annoyed, lowering his kunais. "What happened to the new shuriken jutsu you promised to teach me, huh?" he questioned._

 _"It'll have to wait till later. I have an important mission in the morning and I need to prepare for it." Itachi said, smiling._

 _Sasuke turned away. "You're such a big fat liar..." he said._

 _Itachi waved his right hand to Sasuke to come over._

 _Sasuke saw this before he smiled and ran towards Itachi._

 _"Sorry, Sasuke. Maybe some other time." Itachi said then poked Sasuke's forehead with his right index finger._

 _Sasuke grunted in pain a little bit as he backed away and stopped before he looked up at Itachi, annoyed. He smiled and turned around. "Okay Niisan, just watch this!" he said then ran towards the large rock._

 _Itachi stopped smiling. "Hey! Don't be reckless..." he said._

 _When Sasuke jumped into the air and tried to turn upside down, he fell as he sprained his left ankle._

 _..._

 _Uchiha clan compound._

 _Fugaku and Mikoto's House._

 _Living Room._

 _Fugaku, 40 years old and in his usual outfit, was sitting down on the floor and holding Sasuke's report with his right hand and had his left hand resting on his left knee. Sasuke was sitting on the floor a few feet away from his father as he was smiling._

 _As Fugaku was looking at Sasuke's report card, he looked at Sasuke and lowered it. "Keep excelling like this and you'll be just like your brother in no time." he said._

 _Sasuke stopped smiling. "Father... I... I wanted you to say that's my boy to me."_

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Karin looked at Sasuke with concern. _"Sasuke."_ she thought.

"Such behavior is just a process to help you mature! Don't you use it as a cloak to deceive yourself like you've done. If you've attached yourself value to something external to you, even something admirable and praise worthy then you gain nothing. I'll say this one last time. Don't mislead yourself with lies. Those who cannot acknowledge themselves will invariably fail." Itachi said.

"Fail? The way I am now? How can I fail?!" Kabuto questioned then launched his snake head where Sasuke and Karin were hiding.

Itachi looked at Sasuke and Karin. "Sasuke, Karin... Look into my eyes!" he said.

Sasuke and Karin looked into Itachi's eyes before Sasuke gasped.

"That's right, of course!" Sasuke said.

"What?" Karin asked.

before he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. "Genjutsu... Sharingan!"

"Tsukuyomi!" Itachi said.

Sasuke freed Itachi while Itachi freed Sasuke and Karin. The 3 of them stopped hiding.

Before the snake head came over, Itachi and Sasuke activated their Susano'o ribcages as the snake bit Itachi's Susano'o's sword in his right hand as Sasuke's Susano'o grabbed the snake head with his right hand. The 3 of them watched as the snake head fell dead on the ground.

Kabuto shed one tear from his right eye.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin looked at Kabuto again.

"I shall now engage the Izanami. Which means that you have already failed." Itachi said.

Kabuto fell forward on the ground.

"Is it over?" Sasuke asked.

Itachi unactivated his Susano'o ribcage then held up his left index and middle fingers.

A slimy Kabuto came out of the snake head's mouth before he quickly struck Itachi with his chakra coated left hand in his stomach.

Sasuke and Karin were now surprised.

"You, but used to always have everything would never understand at all. The only thing I want is to be who and what I am. I won't let anyone stop me." Kabuto said.

"Sasu... ke..." Itachi said.

Kabuto held up the kunai in his right hand as he was about to control Itachi with it.

Sasuke took out his sword with his right hand and threw it but it was caught by Kabuto's stomach snake. Sasuke used his Susano'o's left hand to hit Kabuto but Kabuto jumped into the air.

Itachi's upper half landed on the ground a few feet away from them and Kabuto landed on the ceiling with Sasuke's sword in his left hand now.

Sasuke and Karin looked up at Kabuto.

Sasuke placed his left hand to his mouth. "Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" he said, summoning a fireball from his mouth to Kabuto.

"Water Style: Giant Waterfall!" Kabuto said, summoning water.

When the fireball and waterfall clashed the waterfall started to drown the fireball.

Sasuke, who's Susano'o ribcage disappeared, and Karin yelled when they were hit by the water as it flooded the cave. They came out of water gasping for breath as Karin coughed a little bit.

Kabuto looked around the fog before he stopped Itachi, who had his upper and lower half attached together, in the air before he struck him with the sword.

Sasuke and Karin's backs landed on one of pillars.

Sasuke looked at Karin. "Are you alright?" he asked.

Karin looked at Sasuke as she stopped coughing. "Hai." she said.

Itachi stared at Kabuto with his Mangekyo Sharingan before his left eye went blind. Kabuto noticed this before Itachi turned into crows and scattered. Kabuto covered himself and dropped the sword before the crows formed Itachi again and grabbed the sword with his right hand struck Kabuto's upper right corner.

Kabuto got off the ceiling and landed on the ground as his cut off upper right horn fell on the ground. Itachi crouched down on the ground.

"You're just repeating the same old moves. As expected... It makes it easier for me to counter. I already told you, with this body I have the power to recover from any wound you try to inflict, so attacking me is pointless. Since I shut off my vision genjutsu won't work on me. You 3 have no chance of winning." Kabuto said.

"Your fate is already entirely in my hands. All thanks to the Uchiha's other Forbidden Jutsu. That is..." Itachi said.

Kabuto felt a drop of water dripped on his left shoulder, smirking as he coated his right hand in chakra. "Well then... Shall we put that boasting of yours to the test, Itachi?!" he asked then ran towards Itachi.

Itachi and Kabuto jumped into the air as Itachi blocked Kabuto's attack with Sasuke's sword and landed on the ground.

"The Izunami...!" Itachi said.

Itachi and Kabuto jumped a few meters away from each other as they stood on the ground.

Sasuke stopped on the left side of Itachi while Karin stopped on the right side of Itachi.

Itachi held up Sasuke's sword with his right hand. "Sasuke, Karin, do not leave my side." he said.

Kabuto placed his hands on his hips. "Why this just like deju vu." he said then walked forward. "But you bore me... So let's put an end to this fight already."

"Your fate maybe in my hands now... but only you can truly decide how that fate shapes your destiny." Itachi said.

Kabuto stepped on crow feather with his left foot as he continued walking.

"Remember all that told you. You have to think hard." Itachi said.

Kabuto stopped walking. "Sorry but I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about." he said. "Anyway that's enough of your word games. I will have everything that I want... I'm the strongest of all. That is a simple fact!" he said, launching another snake head at them with his stomach snake.

"He who forgives oneself and who can acknowledge one's true self..." Itachi said then activated his orange-red aura. "Is the most powerful of all!" summoning his right Susano'o arm and grabbed the snake head.

A slimy Kabuto came out of the snake head's mouth. "Losers like you..." he said.

Sasuke activated his purple aura and summoned his Susano'o left hand and grabbed Kabuto.

Another slimy Kabuto came out of Kabuto. "Should be quiet!" he said then bit off Itachi's left arm off.

Itachi dropped Sasuke's sword with his right hand.

Kabuto grabbed Sasuke's sword with his left hand and struck Itachi through the chest. Itachi turned into crows and scattered while Kabuto covered himself.

 _"Huh? What is this...?"_ Kabuto thought, dropping Sasuke's sword. _"What's... going on? What is this doing?"_

The crows formed together to make Itachi, who grabbed Sasuke's sword with his right hand and struck Kabuto's upper right horn.

Kabuto stood up on the ground and watched his horn fell on the ground before he felt his cut off upper right horn with his right hand. _"How? My horn had already been cut off! How? I shut off my sight... I should be invulnerable to genjutsu. But this is clearly a...!"_ he thought.

Sasuke unactivated his purple aura and left arm then placed his right hand to his mouth as he made a fireball.

Kabuto took his right hand off of his cut off horn as he watched the fireball coming towards him before he summoned water from his mouth to counter it as water and fog covered the cave.

Kabuto looked to the right side to see something before he felt a drop of water fall on his left shoulder again. "What did you do to me?!" he asked.

"I have you in my Visual Jutsu." Itachi said, having Sasuke's sword in his right hand.

Kabuto coated his right hand with chakra and ran towards Itachi. "Impossible!" he said.

Itachi blocked Kabuto's attack with Sasuke's sword again.

"It's the Izanami!" Itachi said.

Itachi and Kabuto separated from each other as they landed a few meters away from one another.

Kabuto saw Sasuke's sword pierced the cave floor. _"How...?"_ he thought. "Well, it doesn't matter anyway, because no one can stop me now!" he said then ran towards Sasuke's sword. "I am all powerful!" then grabbed Sasuke's sword with his left hand and stepped on a crow feather." he looked down and looked up again and tried to strike Itachi.

Itachi dodged Kabuto's attack and jumped on to the ceiling. Kabuto jumped after him and struck Itachi through the chest. Itachi turned into crows and scattered around. The crows formed again to make Itachi, wwho grabbed Sasuke's sword with his right hand and cut off Kabuto's upper right horn.

Itachi and Kabuto landed on the ground as their backs faced each other a few meters apart.

Kabuto noticed the horns on the floor.

Itachi looked at Kabuto. "As I told you... I hold your fate in my hands right now." he said.

Kabuto looked at Itachi angrily. "Itachi Uchiha!" he said, yelling. He coated his right hand with chakra and ran towards Itachi and tried to strike him.

Itachi dodged the attacks before he ran away. Kabuto followed after Itachi.

 _"If this is a genjutsu..."_ Kabuto thought then stopped running behind he made hand signs with both hands, smirking. _"Release!"_

Kabuto felt another drop of water fall on his left shoulder before he backed away, shocked. He looked down to see that he stepped on a crow feather again. _"Huh?"_ he thought.

Itachi ran towards Kabuto, but Kabuto coated both of his hands with chakra and grabbed Sasuke's sword with his right hand and took it from Itachi with his right hand as he uncoated his hands with chakra then ran towards Itachi.

Kabuto struck Itachi through the chest before he burst into crows and scattered around. Kabuto dropped Sasuke's sword before the crows formed together and formed Itachi as he grabbed the sword with his right hand and cut off Kabuto's upper right horn.

Kabuto jumped a few meters backwards away from Itachi and crouched down and noticed his right upper horn on the ground. _"Just stay calm... It is an Uchiha Genjutsu and since Itachi cast it, he won't be easy to release. But there are many ways to undo a genjutsu!"_ he thought.

"It's useless. Remember all that I've told you." Itachi said, standing up.

"Of course. I'll just copy the same trick that you 2 use before!" Kabuto said then summoned his Tayuya and a flute on his stomach snake. _"Tayuya! Demon Flute: Chains of Fantasia!"_ he thought.

Itachi closed his eyes and shook his head before he stopped and looked at Kabuto.

Kabuto's Tayuya played the flute.

 _"This will switch from Itachi's control over to Tayuya's control."_ Kabuto thought.

Kabuto immediately felt another drop of water fall on his left shoulder again then backed away and fell down then his right hand touched a crow feather, making him shocked and almost immediately get up when Itachi came at him with Sasuke's sword. Kabuto jumped into the air as Itachi followed him.

"Then, I'll do this!" Kabuto said then placed his hands together and made hand signs. "Sage Art: Inorganic Animation!"

The cave spikes pierced Itachi and he turned into crows and scattered.

Kabuto landed on the ground and crouched down. "There! This whole area is under my control. Better retreat for now..." he said.

The cave spikes moved back to their normal setting.

Kabuto started to run for the exit and he noticed that Itachi was coming towards him. "Damn it! Don't mess with me!" he said, coating both of his hands in chakra.

Itachi blocked Kabuto's attack with Sasuke's sword and after a few seconds they separated from each other by jumping a few meters away from each other.

Sasuke stopped on the left side of Itachi and Karin stopped on the right side of Itachi.

Itachi held up Sasuke's sword with his right hand.

Kabuto became surprised.

Itachi was still blind in his left eye. "He cannot escape this loop. He'll remain stuck inside this unsorary." he said.

"So this is the other Uchiha Forbidden Jutsu! The companion to Izanagi." Sasuke said.

"What another very interesting jutsu from the Uchiha clan." Karin said.

From left to right, Sasuke, Itachi, and Karin were standing in front of Kabuto was wasn't moving as he was standing up.

Itachi placed his left hand on top of Kabuto's head.

"A jutsu that decides one's fate... This is the Izanami." Itachi said. "It makes it easier to cast my real Visual Genjutsu on him by keeping him trapped in a small loop like this."

"So then, right now Kabuto's caught in the loop you've created?" Sasuke asked. "And that's the Izanami? When did you cast it?"

"Yeah." Karin said.

Itachi took his left hand off of Kabuto's head then turned around to look at Sasuke and Karin. "The very first time Kabuto stabbed me with that blade." he said.

Sasuke and Karin started to remember what happened earlier.

"Way back then, huh?" Sasuke questioned.

"So that's the strange feeling that I sensed." Karin said.

"But how? You said that it was a Visual Jutsu that worked even without vision. How can a Visual Jutsu work without eyesight?" Sasuke asked.

"Izanami is a Visual Jutsu that works with a physical senses of both yourself and your opponents." Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin became interested.

"The physical senses of 2 people?" Sasuke questioned.

"As you are battling your opponent, you use your Visual Prowess to take a record, like a picture, of the sensation you and your opponent are feeling in that instant. We'll call that exhibit A. As time progresses, you find that exhibit B is a more important moment then you record exhibit C and so on with Sharingan. Then you recreate those exact physical senses. So you're using your powers to create a perfect copy of exhibit A. We'llcall this A prime. By overlaying and connecting A to A prime, the Izanami also links a path including B prime and C prime to create fluctuations within a fixed time. In other words, it's the power to create an infinite loop. Naturally, all in exchange for one's own sight of course, exactly like Izanagi." Itachi said.

"Very interesting." Karin said.

Sasuke looked down at the ground. "So Kabuto's consious is trapped inside the loop that you created." he said then stopped looking down. "He'll be fighting a phantom me, a phantom Karin, and a phantom you for all eternity then."

"He's really gonna be stuck in there for forever?" Karin asked.

"Not quite. There's an escape route built into the jutsu. He could easily disengage. You see the Izanami was developed to admonish and save an Izanagi user." Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin became surprised.

"What does that mean?" Sasuke asked.

"You 2 know a little bit about the Izanagi already." Itachi said then held up his right hand midway. "It is a perfect Uchiha Visual Jutsu designed to change destiny. If something doesn't go the way you want it to, you can just erase that outcome and start all over. Ultimately, you can pick and choose the most desirable end result."

Sasuke and Karin continued to stare at Itachi.

"What I'm about to tell you 2 is the story of the Uchiha's Izanagi and how the Izanami came to be. I want to be sure you 2 know this." Itachi said.

"The Izanami... and the story of its creation?" Sasuke questioned.

"How did it all began?" Karin asked, folding her arms.

Itachi began telling the story.

"A long time ago, there was a great battle that the Uchiha clan could not afford to lose. The Izanagi turned out to be an invaluable jutsu... However... a jutsu that allows the caster to choose their own ending carries with them a bigger risk and only the loss of ones vision. Most who use that overly powerful Visual Jutsu couldn't handle it and abused the power that they held. If there's only one Izanagi user there's was no problem, but when 2 or more used it there was a scramble within the Uchiha Clan to see who could get the best result. The Izanagi's ability to influence outcomes caused much inter-clan rivalry. The Izanami was ultimately created to control it's power." Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin became shocked for a moment before they continued to listen to the story.

"Normal vision-based genjutsu is powerless against a Visual Prowess... In the first place, reality is a product of chance at we call fate. We cannot predict it." Itachi said then looked at Kabuto. "But Izanagi can twist around an inconvenient reality and lead it to a new fate. At a whim, the user can change the original reality into a new one. To the enemy, a fallen opponent will revive, so it's an intolerable jutsu. If someone is using the Izanagi to change an outcome for their own benefit. An Izanami causes them to circle endlessly in a loop." then looked back at Sasuke and Karin.

"I believed that the Izanagi was the ultimate Visual Jutsu. But that means that the Izanami is a far superior Visual Jutsu. Izanami forms a loop around the physical sensation even stopping Izanagi from warping reality." Sasuke said.

"You're right." Karin said, unfolding her arms.

"Since the Izanami is a jutsu meant for stopping the Izanagi. There's an escape route that's built into the loop." Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin became shocked again then made a serious face.

"Originally, it was a jutsu to save Uchiha comrades from arrogance and negligence. It's to stop you from taking the easy way out from inconvenient outcomes. Once one accepts the original outcome and stops trying to run from it, the loop will stop. This jutsu guides you towards accepting your face, instead of relying on jutsu to change it. But a jutsu that has an escape route is too dangerous to use in actual combat. That's why the Izanami is a Forbidden Jutsu. If Kabuto stops trying to transform himself, then he'll be able to bring the loop to an end." Itachi said.

"I see. That makes sense." Karin said.

"The Uchiha clan and their history of conflict... The arrogance and recklessness displayed by those who misuse the Izanagi... As well as the clash between them and how they stop by the Izanami... We understand now why both the Izanagi and Izanami came to be Forbidden Jutsu." Sasuke said. "And we also see how one must learn from the past and accept one's fate and then find a way to move on afterward."

Karin looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke held up his hands midway as he stepped forward. "But why? Why'd you even bother casting this jutsu on Kabuto? If there's a way to escape..." he asked putting his arms down, looking at Kabuto.

Itachi and Karin looked at Kabuto.

"He reminds me of the old me." Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin looked back at Itachi.

Itachi looked back at Sasuke and Karin. "He thinks by acquiring all there is, he can accomplish what ever he wants to. And he makes himself believe that he can't fail, even if that really amounts to lying to himself. I stopped listening to what anyone else said. And I stopped letting myself trust anybody." he said.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin looked at Kabuto again.

"In his case, Kabuto is so deluded that he thinks all of these powers are his and his alone. I understand him too well. Both of us were used by the shinobi world... He can neither forgive himself nor accept himself for what he truly is. It's clear that what he's doing is wrong but he's not completely to blame for not being able to realize that. My chance has past me by, but he can still forgive himself before he dies." Itachi said.

Sasuke looked at Itachi angrily. "But why Niisan? Why would you ever feel like you need to help him do that? He is not like you. No you were perfect!" he questioned.

Karin looked angrily at Sasuke. "No, not even close. He killed half of our clans in cold blood!" she said.

Sasuke looked at Karin.

"Karin's right." Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin looked back at Itachi to see that he was looking at them.

"Sasuke... You know I was going to control you with the Visual Jutsu. I planned to use the Koto Amatsukami. I treated you as though you were a child because I thought you needed my protection. I was unable to trust your strength. It maybe that a perfect being does not exist at all in the whole world. Sometimes, 2 people who appeared to be complete opposites are actually 2 sides of the same coin and they can only succeed when they actually work together. Like the Izanagi and Izanami. Look at me, and find in yourself what I was unable to find in myself. However, do not ever say that I was perfect like Karin told you. First of all..." Itachi said.

...

Kabuto's Mind.

"No, it's impossible! I've already become the perfect being!" Kabuto said.

From left to right, Sasuke, Itachi, and Karin were standing a few meters away from Kabuto.

"But this isn't the real me!" Kabuto said, shedding from his skin.

"How long will you imitate Orochimaru?" Itachi asked.

Kabuto grabbed his glasses from his shedded skin with his right hand and put them on.

"If you want to exit this loop, you must reexamine your mistakes!" Itachi said.

"Shut up!" Kabuto said, taking his right hand off of his glasses. _"I know he's going to come at me with a Fire Style Jutsu."_ he thought then held up his left index and middle fingers. "Water Style: Water Dragon-!" but was cut off.

Itachi held up his left index and middle fingers. "Water Style: Water Dragon Missile!" he said, summoning water.

Kabuto was hit by the water dragon as he was moving backwards in the cave. _"He saw that coming with his Sharingan!"_ he thought then felt drops of water dripped on his left shoulder.

Kabuto saw Itachi coming towards him with Sasuke's sword in his right hand then took off his glasses with his right hand. "But how did I get any of this wrong? Where have I ever made a mistake in all this?" he asked.

Itachi jumped up and prepared to attack Kabuto.

Kabuto started to remember his memories when he was a child. _"All I ever wanted was for someone to be there for me. Someone to acknowledge me. Someone to appreciate me. Tell me, where is the mistake in wanting that?!"_ he thought.

End of Kabuto's Mind.

...

Night Time.

Cave.

"First of all... I should have acknowledged and appreciated myself for the person I was. If I just done that I never would've had to lie to anyone. To myself or to you. If you lie to yourself, how can you have friends who be trustworthy? In the end, all these lies will keep you from seeing your true self." Itachi asked.

...

Kabuto's Mind.

Kabuto put on his glasses again with his right hand and stood up. _"If I wasn't trapped here... I'd have won this war by now."_ he thought. "I'd would've been sleeping right now." he said then hit the water with his right fist. "Damn you, Itachi!" then ran towards him.

Itachi ran towards Kabuto and prepared to strike each other.

End of Kabuto's Mind.

...

Cave.

Itachi turned around as he, Sasuke, and Karin looked at Kabuto.

"I'll stop the Reanimation Jutsu now." Itachi said then stepped a little closer to Kabuto and took his glasses off with his right hand. "And... all the reanimated shinobi will be gone."

Sasuke became surprised.

"And that should bring the war to an end." Itachi said.

"That's good news." Karin said.

Sasuke made a concerned look. "But... you'll be gone too, Niisan." he said.

"But I will have protected my village as I'm Itachi Uchiha of the Leaf once again." Itachi said then looked at Sasuke and Karin. "I have no more regrets."

Sasuke became angry. "But why?! Why help the very village that did this to you that put you where you are now?" he asked, yelling. "You maybe able to forgive the Leaf, but I cannot! You have no more regrets? What about what you've made me become?! What about that, huh?!" then started panting.

Itachi started to remember what he said to Naruto earlier. "I'm not the one who can change you, Sasuke." he said then looked at Kabuto.

Sasuke stopped panting.

"But I can stop this jutsu. This Reanimation jutsu is something that I can effect. In doing so, I'll fulfill my promise to Naruto at least." Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin became shocked.

"Oniisan!" Karin said.

Itachi placed his left hand on Kabuto's forehead. "I will stop the Reanimation Jutsu!" he said then opened Kabuto's eyes. "Tell me the signs to stop the Reanimation Jutsu. Tsukuyomi!" using his Mangekyo Sharingan. "I've kept my promise. I leave the rest up to you... Naruto."

"Ne (Rat), Ushi (Ox), Saru (Monkey), Tora (Tiger), Tatsu Dragon), I (Boar)..." Kabuto said.

 _"That's it, huh..."_ Itachi thought. "All right... Ne..." he said.

Kabuto put his hands together and made a Rat hand sign.

"Ushi..." Itachi said.

Kabuto made the Ox hand sign.

"Saru." Itachi said.

Kabuto made the Monkey hand sign.

Sasuke looked at Karin.

Karin looked at Sasuke for a moment before she looked at Itachi and sighed then started to talk. "Our fathers were best friends that and so close that they were brother's. I believed that it was true because when my father sacrificed his life for everyone to live, your father activated his Mangekyo Sharingan. I know you knew that Itachi. My father wouldn't have done something like what you have done years ago, he would've found a solution that didn't lead to that. Our clans are slowly growing back because of that." she said then looked down at the ground. "Danzo hated the Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan and he wanted us to die but he wanted our abilities. After what you did, you're no better than Danzo." then looked at Itachi. "However, you're helping to stop the war that everyone is trying to stop and I mostly believe everyone deserves a second chance, yours happened when you became a Reanimated shinobi. So I can slowly forgive for what you done, but I'll never forget. At least, when you go back you can see my parents again."

Itachi stayed silent but he glanced at Karin for a moment before he looked back at Kabuto.

When Karin was done talking, Sasuke looked back at Itachi before he closed his eyes and opened them again to have crow black eyes.

"I guess... it won't matter what I say too, will it? As soon as we saw you... we tailed you because I wanted to confirm whether or not Tobi and Danzo told us the truth. But that wasn't the only thing I was able to verify. When I'm with you, the past comes flooding back. The feelings I had as a child, of adoring for my Niisan. That's the reason why... the closer I get to you the closer we become the how we were before as brothers and the more I understand you. The more I come to hate the hidden leaf village for causing you so much pain! I hate it more now than I ever hate it before! I know what you want me to do. How you want me to be. You're my big brother so I know your going to disapprove. But it's because I'm your brother that, no matter what you say, you're not going to stop me even! Even if you protect the village now... I will still destroy it someday." Sasuke said.

"Tora." Itachi said.

Kabuto made Tiger hand sign.

"Totsu." Itachi said.

Kabuto made Dragon hand sign.

"So it's good bye." Sasuke said.

"Make sure to tell my parents that I love them." Karin said.

"I." Itachi said.

Kabuto made the Boar hand sign.

"Reanimation Jutsu... Release!" Itachi said.

Itachi, Sasuke, and Karin felt wind blowing through their hair for a moment.

 _"Niisan..."_ Sasuke thought.

Itachi began to glow a bright white light.

Karin suddenly sensed 2 familiar chakras coming to their location.

Itachi turned around and faced Sasuke and Karin, he raised his right arm up. "There is, still time..." he said then slowly walked towards Sasuke.

Sasuke and Karin became surprised.

"I feel like my consciousness is slowly fading... I must tell you 2 everything before I say goodbye and we part for good. There is no need to lie anymore. The night I left you, I did everything Danzo and Tobi told you 2 I did. I'll show you 2... the whole truth." Itachi said then used his Sharingan on Sasuke and Karin.

Sasuke and Karin felt themselves blackout before they saw they were near a forest and water, and Shisui, 19 years old and in his usual outfit, was facing the waterfall as Itachi, 13 years old and in his old Anbu outfit was facing Shisui.

...

Genjutsu.

 _"These are... Itachi's memories."_ Sasuke thought.

 _"This must've happened before the massacres."_ Karin thought.

"It's seems we can't fully prevent the Uchiha and Uzumaki coup d'etat. And if civil war erupts in the Leaf, the other nations will evade for sure. Real war will break out. When I tried to stop all this with the Kotoamatsukami, Danzo stole my right eye." Shisui said then looked at Itachi. "That man doesn't trust me at all. He intends to protect the village his way, no matter what it takes or how it looks. I suspect he'll come after my left eye as well. So I'll give it to you before he has a chance." taking out his left eye with his left hand and fully turned towards Itachi.

 _"Shisui..."_ Shisui thought.

"You're the only person I can count on, my best friend. Please protect the village... the Uchiha and Uzumaki names. 3 of them." Shisui said, handing his left eye to Itachi.

...

Night Time.

Hokage Mansion.

Meeting Room.

From left to right, Homura, 63 years old and in his usual outfit, Hiruzen, 64 years old and in his old Hokage robes, Minato, 32 years old and in his usual outfit, Koharu, 63 years old and in her usual outfit, and Danzo, 64 years old and in his usual outfit, were sitting at a long brown table with 5 seats as Itachi, in his old Anbu outfit, was bowing.

"We cannot allow such a thing!" Koharu said. "If they are going to start a revolution then use it try to usurp our power, then we have no choice but to judge the Uchiha and Uzumaki as traitors to the Hidden Leaf!"

"Please wait, Koharu. Don't rush to such a decision." Hiruzen said.

Danzo looked at Hiruzen. "However, Hiruzen the Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan will not be swayed. And since that is in fact the case we must take measures to avoid any mayhem." he said then looked forward. "And that includes innocent children too."

Hiruzen looked at Itachi. "Don't say such things in front of Minato and Itachi. Minato's married into the Uzumaki clan and as well as family there." he said.

"Besides which, only half of the Uchiha and Uzumaki clans decided peace but our battle against them will be far from an easy task. There's got to be some sort of strategy we can use!" Minato said then looked at Danzo.

"They all want to and we're in a race against time here. Are ought to strike them preheptively before their first moves. If we join forces and use our respective Black Ops to launch a surprise attack from behind, it will be over in no time." Danzo said.

Minato looked forward. "The Uchiha and and Uzumaki are our comrades in arms. I would like to use words first and peace before violence. Me and Hiruzen will come up with a strategy. Itachi... it doesn't have to be long but by me as much time as you can before I talk to him." he said.

...

Night Time.

Cave.

Danzo and Itachi were facing each other as they stood a few feet away.

"Despite what Lord 4th and former Lord 3rd said, they will move to protect the Leaf if push comes to shove. That's the kind of men they are. In which case, as the Hokage even Minato will have to take desive measures whether it starts a war or not. Once the coup d'etat happens the Uchiha and Uzumaki's will lock themselves into a faith of getting annihilated. Including your innocent little brother and Minato's son and neice, who knows nothing. However, there is a way to spare just the halves, prior to any revolt. If things come to pass, those 3 will likely come to know everything. And if they witness a Leaf Shinobi slaughter half of their clans, it will give them a vengful heart towards the Leaf! And then I'm afraid that they will unfortunately will have to die as well or be locked up."

"Is that a threat?" Itachi asked.

"No, I just like you to make a choice. Either align yourself with half of the Uchiha and Uzumaki, launch the couch d'etat, and die along with the half of them. Or side with the Leaf, save you the other half of the Uchiha and Uzumaki clans before the revolt and then help us eliminate half of the Uchiha and Uzumaki. But no matter what happens, to protect leaf this must be be quelled before mayhem can arise. The only way who can handle this mission is you a double agent from the, Uchiha, Uzumaki, and the Leaf. There is no one else... Itachi." Danzo said then closed his eyes. "Itachi, this will make you be the most painful mission for you. But on the other hand, this will allow half of your clan and the Uzumaki clan to be spared. I know you care about the village as much as I... Will you accept this mission?"

Itachi closed his eyes and turned around then started walking away.

...

Forest.

Tobi, in his old usual outfit, blanchy, and Itachi, in his usual outfit, were standing a few feet away from each other.

"How did you know about me?" Tobi asked.

"You slipped through the highest level of Leaf Security and went to examine Nakano Shrine's secret stone tablet. Only the Uchiha are aware of its location." Itachi said. "After that, I've kept an eye your movements, and looked into what kind of character you are and what your idealogy is."

"Well then, that saves me much time. So you already know that I'm an Uchiha myself and bear hatred for both the Leaf and my own clan..." Tobi said.

"I have terms. I'll help you exact revenge upon half of the Uchiha Clan. But you are not to harm the other half and the village itself. Nor... Sasuke Uchiha.

...

Uchiha clan compound.

Itachi, in his Anbu outfit, was crouching down on top of a pole as he watched Sasuke, 8 years old and in his old usual outfit, was running towards the Uchiha compound.

 _"I regret now, not telling you everything before it had come to this."_ Itachi thought.

End of Genjutsu.

...

Sasuke and Karin were now looking at Itachi again, surprised.

"There's nothing more to say. I have told you 2 the whole truth. I won't have to ever again... I always lied to you and asked for your forgiveness. Deliberately keeping you at a distance by my own hand. All because I didn't want you to get caught up in any of this. But now, I believe... that perhaps you 2 could've changed half of the half Uchiha and half of the Uzumaki as well." Itachi said, moving closer to Sasuke.

Karin stepped back a little to give the 2 brothers some space.

"If I had only come to you from the start... and looked you straight into your eyes and told you the truth, then I wouldn't have had to stand before you, as a failure, telling you all of this. But." Itachi said, making it to Sasuke and was about poke his forehead but decided not to. "So this time, I want to impart at least this truth to you..." he grabbed the back of Sasuke's head with his right hand and pulled him towards him as their foreheads were touching, he smiled. "You 2 don't ever have to forgive me. And no matter what you do from here on out, know this... No matter what I will love you always."

Sasuke and Karin became surprised.

Itachi's soul separated from the dead unknown male Konoha shinobi and the pieces of paper shedded and fell to the ground then he started to rise up.

"Don't worry, Karin. I'll tell your parents what you said." Itachi said.

Sasuke and Karin continued to stare at Itachi until he disappeared as well as the light.

Karin felt tears coming from her eyes before she wiped them under her glasses with her right hand before she looked at Sasuke to see that he was just standing there.

"Sasuke…" Karin said, a little bit concerned.

"I…" Sasuke said then started to think of Itachi, his parents, and his clan. _"What does it mean to have a clan?"_ then started to think some people in the village and Konoha. _"What does it mean to belong to a village?"_ then started to think about the Raikage, the Tsuchikage, Minato, Gaara, and the Mizukage. _"What does it mean to be a shinobi?"_ then started to think about Kakashi, Yamato, Naruto, Karin, Kiba, Shikamaru, Choji, Sakura, and other villagers.

Sasuke looked up at the ceiling. "What am I supposed to…" he said.

Karin was about to say something to Sasuke but turned to look up at the upper right side of the cave ceiling as she sensed 2 familiar chakras. "Not them again." she said, annoyed.

A few tiny rocks fell from the ceiling before some of ceiling collapsed, the dust cloud appearing.

Sasuke and Karin jumped a few meters backwards and looked up to see Jugo, in his usual outfit, and Suigetsu, in his usual outfit excluding his sandals, and a black cloak.

Suigetsu smiled. "Ha. Found you 2." he said, laughing a little.

"It's you 2." Sasuke said.

Jugo and Suigetsu jumped and landed a few feet away from Sasuke and Karin.

"That's right." Suigetsu said.

Karin folded her arms. "How did you find us?" she asked.

"Jugo used the birds to sense you." Suigetsu said. "But what are you 2 doing here, anyway?"

"Putting a stop to the Reanimation Jutsu." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu became confused. "Huh? You've always been like this you know that? You never really feel the need to explain things in better details do you? Look it's been awhile since we've seen you 2 so just tell us what you 2 really been doing." he asked.

Karin became annoyed. "He's telling the truth." she said.

Sasuke raised his right arm as he pointed at something with his right index finger.

Jugo and Suigetsu turned around.

"What?" Suigetsu asked.

The dust cloud disappeared to reveal Kabuto.

"That's Kabuto." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu became confused.

"Kabuto was the one who casted the Reanimation Jutsu." Sasuke said.

"Told you Sasuke was telling the truth." Karin said, unfolding her arms.

…

A few minutes later.

From left to right, Sasuke and Karin were sitting on the lower part of the rocks. Suigetsu was in front of Kabuto as he was examining him. And Jugo, who now had 2 birds on his shoulders, was crouching down on the right side of Anko.

"What are we gonna do now?" Karin asked, looking down at the cave ground.

"I'm not sure." Sasuke said.

"So this is Kabuto? He's kind of gross, huh? And this thing sticking out of his it looks like some kind of huge-" Suigetsu said but was cut off.

"Just leave him alone, Suigetsu." Sasuke said.

Jugo looked down at Anko. "She's still alive." he said.

Sasuke looked at Jugo and Suigetsu. "Listen. What are guys want with us after all this time?" he asked then raised his right arm. "Why did you go out of your way to look for us?" the lowered his right arm.

Karin looked at Suigetsu.

Suigetsu stopped looking at Kabuto and looked at Sasuke smiling. "Oh yeah. That's the thing." he said then reached into his cloak with both hands and started looking. "Wait. Where is it?" then looked at Sasuke. "We found something incredible in one of the hideouts." then turned around and walked towards Sasuke and Karin, still looking. "Now where is it?" then stopped.

Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin looked at Jugo, who had Anko over his right shoulder, was walking towards them.

"Earlier, you said that you, Itachi, and Karin stopped Kabuto's Reanimation Jutsu right? But if it really worked the way it was supposed to why's Madara still here?" Jugo asked then stopped walking.

Sasuke and Karin became surprised.

"What?!" Karin asked.

Sasuke started to remember Itachi and some of his memories before he made a calm face. "I see. So it wasn't stopped then." he said.

Suigetsu looked at Jugo, annoyed and angry. "Can't you see that I'm talking to Sasuke! Don't interrupt me like that." he said then smiled as he reached into his cloak again with both hands and pulled out a scroll with his right, smiling. "Anyway, never mind all that." then stepped a few feet away from Sasuke, holding out a scroll. "Here!"

Sasuke and Karin looked at the scroll.

"Take a look at it!" Suigetsu said.

Sasuke grabbed the scroll from Suigetsu, who lowered his arms, with his right hand before he opened it with both hands then he and Karin examined the scroll.

"I know this. I was shown this twice by one of my clan members." Karin said.

Suigetsu raised his arms. "See! Amazing isn't it?!" he asked. With this scroll, we Taka can take over the entire shinobi world!"

"This is it..." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu became confused as he lowered his arms.

Sasuke looked up from the scroll. "The human who's all-knowing..." he said then stood up as he now held the scroll in his left hand.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin looked at Sasuke.

"Now. I need to go meet up with someone. I'm leaving." Sasuke said.

"Who exactly are you going to meet?" Karin asked, standing up.

"Huh? Meet who?" Suigetsu asked.

"Orochimaru." Sasuke said.

"What?!" Karin asked, surprised.

"Huh?! What are you talking about? You already killed Orochimaru, remember?! I wanted you to use this scroll to..." Suigetsu said, moving his arms around.

Sasuke and Suigetsu looked at Anko.

"Don't you think it's possible that someone as tenacious as Orochimaru might not be killed so easily? And even if I do find him vile and repulsive... I still need him to do something for me." Sasuke said. "The clan... The village... It's time to go see the all knowing."

Suigetsu looked at Sasuke again. "I don't get it. How can you talk to Orochimaru? Who exactly is this all knowing person?" he asked.

"That isn't something you need to know right now." Sasuke said.

Suigetsu placed his right hand on his head, closing his eyes. "What? I don't get this. But it doesn't really matter." he asked then opened his eyes as he took his right hand off of his head. "In any case, you can't because Orochimaru must never be revived! You're planning on asking Orochimaru for help with controlling the power of the scroll aren't you? But you don't have to. You can learn to do it on your own, I know it. I mean that's why I looked for you 2... And that's why I'm giving the scroll to you."

Sasuke put the scroll in his pouch with his right hand. "There are still things only Orochimaru can do." he said.

"I hate to say this but Suigetsu's right. You don't need to do that. I know you this scroll and we can do this together." Karin said.

Sasuke looked at Karin for a moment before he jumped forward and landed a few feet away from Jugo and Anko.

 _"Sasuke doesn't believe we can do that."_ Karin thought, a little hurt.

"Sasuke. Just listen to us. You were Orochimaru's favorite weren't you? His star pupil. So why can't you do it?" Suigetsu asked.

Sasuke looked at Suigetsu. "Suigetsu! Just don't." he said.

"Huh? What?" Suigetsu asked.

Sasuke looked forward. "Don't underestimate Orochimaru." he said then walked over to Jugo and Anko.

Jugo nodded as Sasuke stopped walking. Jugo put Anko off of his right shoulder with both hands and sat her down on the floor. Sasuke kneeled down and examined Anko's curse mark as he held up his hands.

"What? You idiot! I don't underestimate that guy at all! It's just the opposite! You do. The only reason that you defeated Orochimaru was because both his arms have been rendered useless by the Reaper Death Seal, that's all. You're the one who's underestimated him! You know even if he is revived somehow he'd probably still won't be able to use his arms but he'll still be dangerous. He's gonna come after your body again! If he finds out about this war, he's going to want to be apart of it. He wants to destroy the Leaf too remember?! And that means that Team Taka will get all mixed up in this war as well! Is that what you want?" Suigetsu asked, moving his arms around.

Karin made a serious face.

Sasuke placed his hands together.

"We've only now surpassed our mentors. This was supposed to be our time to shine! Look, nobody wants to see Orochimaru ever again." Suigetsu said then closed his eyes. "Hasn't he caused us enough trouble?"

"Shut up, Suigetsu." Sasuke said then looked at Suigetsu. "Please just go and dig out a piece of Kabuto's flesh and bring it over here to me."

Suigetsu opened his eyes as he looked at Sasuke, annoyed. "Huh? You don't listen to me, but for some reason you expect me to listen to you?" he asked.

Jugo started to walk over to Kabuto. "Fine. I'll do it." he said.

Suigetsu placed his right hand on the top of his head again, closing his eyes. "So that's how it's gonna be, huh?" he asked then opened his eyes and took his right hand off of his head. "Are you really sure about all this, Jugo? Orochimaru's going to be resurrection, you know..."

Jugo stopped in front of Kabuto and looked at Suigetsu. "I don't mind. Sasuke's will is Kimimaro's will." he said then looked Kabuto. "I will abide by it." transforming the his right hand and little of the right side of his face.

 _"Still the idiot that is foolishly loyal to Sasuke despite what happened because of what a dead friend told him."_ Karin thought, sighing.

Jugo placed his right hand on Kabuto's chest and started to remove some of his skin.

Suigetsu stepped on the right side of Jugo as he looked at him, annoyed. "You're the same as always. But what is it even going on here?" he asked.

Jugo removed his right hand from Kabuto's chest as he held some of his flesh. He looked at Suigetsu. "This is called Sage Transformation in my village. Just like my original transformation. But in all of my clones, it's called Curse Mark Transformation." then walked over to Sasuke and Anko then placed Kabuto's flesh on Anko's curse mark.

Kabuto's flesh fused with Anko's flesh before her curse mark glowed red.

Sasuke started to remember what Kakashi did to him when he still had the curse mark before started making hand signs with both hands. _"So the reverse of it is: Curse Unsealing!"_ he thought then placed his right hand on Anko's curse mark. He pulled out a snake head as it grew and opened it's mouth to reveal Orochimaru, in his usual outfit.

Suigetsu became surprised as Karin became cautious and serious.

Sasuke looked at Orochimaru as he took his right hand off of the snake.

Suigetsu ran to Kabuto and hid behind him as he watched.

The snake spit out Orochimaru, who was now crouching down.

Orochimaru smirked, looking at Sasuke. "Who would have imagined that it would be you of all people who would fucilitate my return!" he said.

Everyone stayed silent.

Orochimaru stood up on the cave ground and looked at Kabuto.

Suigetsu nervously smiled. "Oh, hi there! Long time no see." he said.

Orochimaru continued to look at Kabuto.

Sasuke stood up from the ground and walked towards Orochimaru before he stopped a few feet away. "Orochimaru. There's something that I want you to do for me now." he said.

"You don't need to bother explaining it." Orochimaru said then looked at Sasuke. "I've been watching from inside Anko this whole time. I secured My Sage Jutsu Chakra into those Curse Marks. They're like pieces of my own consiousness."

"Then you know about the war as well?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes, of course." Orochimaru said then looked at Suigetsu. "And I just have one thing to tell you about that, Suigetsu."

Suigetsu became scared. "Huh?" he asked.

"And that is I have no interest in this war at all." Orochimaru said.

Suigetsu became confused. "Huh?!" he asked.

Orochimaru held up his arms. "I mean. It is someone else's war." he said then lowered his arms and looked at Sasuke. "The only thing I'm interested in now is your young body. Yes, that's right my dear Sasuke-kun."

Suigetsu closed his eyes. _"I told you!"_ he thought.

Orochimaru looked at Kabuto again.

Suigetsu opened his eyes as he became nervous.

"But then again, it's not as if I currently possess the strength to steal away from you." Orochimaru said.

 _"I wouldn't be so sure..."_ Suigetsu thought.

Sasuke took out the scroll from his pouch with his left hand and held it out to Orochimaru.

Orochimaru looked at Sasuke, serious. "What is your intent in meeting with them?" he asked.

"There's too much that I don't know. So I plan to ask them everything." Sasuke said.

Orochimaru smirked. "Everything, huh? There's no need to know it all just yet. You are still a child after all." he asked.

"No, you're wrong." Sasuke said then remember some memories of Itachi earlier, closing his eyes. "I'm not a child anymore. I can't stay a child." then opened his eyes. "I want to discover what started all of it. To find out what I'm suppose to be and what I'm suppose to do."

"Are you questioning your vengeance?" Orochimaru asked.

"Not at all... Not my quest for vengeance itself, not a bit. After reuniting with Itachi, my hatred toward the Hidden Leaf has grown even stronger. It's just... I want to understand how even in death Itachi could call himself a Leaf Shinobi and care about and try to protect the village that dishonored his name. Who was Itachi? What is a village? What is a clan? And so... that is why I have to know everything so I can finally have the answer. I need to see with my own eyes and decide with my own mind what I must do." Sasuke asked.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment as they looked at Sasuke.

 _"He's no longer the boy who was manipulated by Itachi... or me... or Tobi."_ Orochimaru thought then turned to Kabuto and walked towards him.

Suigetsu became nervous before ran from Kabuto's body.

Orochimaru stopped in front of Kabuto and placed his left hand on his right shoulder. _"What a strange sensation."_ he thought.

Suigetsu stopped behind Sasuke, who placed the scroll back in his pouch with his left hand. "He's going to absorb all of Kabuto's power, and then kill him! So you better stay alert and watch out. He might try catch you off guard too!" he said.

Orochimaru started transferring some chakra to him from Kabuto then looked at Sasuke. "The current you... isn't half bad." he said.

Kabuto's horns, sage mode, and scales disappeared.

Sasuke and Karin watched closely.

Suigetsu started to become scared again, moving his left arm around. "Didn't I tell you? He did absorb his power!" he said.

Jugo walked and stopped near Sasuke and Suigetsu. "No, you're wrong on that. He undid the Sage Transformation. He took back his own chakra that was inside Kabuto. Not any of Kabuto's chakra."

Orochimaru looked at Sasuke, taking his left hand off of Kabuto's right shoulder. "Very well. I will help you out." he said then walked away. "Come along."

"And just where are we going?" Sasuke asked.

Orochimaru stopped walking as he smirked again. "A place where you and Karin actually know quite well." he said.

 _"If that creep even thinks about destroying the village, he and Sasuke will see the consequences."_ she thought.

Jugo and Suigetsu became confused.

Orochimaru looked up at the huge hole in the ceiling. "Shall we be on our way." he said.

Karin walked towards it before she jumped up and out of the cave with Orochimaru, Sasuke, Jugo, and Suigetsu following after her.

...

1 and 1/2 hour later.

Konohagakure.

The crickets were chirping in the night of Konoha.

Orochimaru, Jugo, Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin were standing near buildings before they turned around as they suddenly sensed a large amount of chakra.

 _"What is this chakra?"_ Suigetsu thought.

 _"This chakra is... enormous...! And Oniisan...!"_ Karin thought.

Orochimaru smirked as he looked up at the sky. _"Interesting. They all perceive the chakra, even though Karin's the only sensory type."_ he thought then looked at the rest. _"This chakra is..."_

Sasuke looked forward. "Let's just go. Hurry up and lead the way, Orochimaru." he said.

Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin looked forward.

Orochimaru looked down at Sasuke. _"It looks like he's a bit concerned... about Naruto-kun."_ he thought then forward as he walked.

Jugo, Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin followed Orochimaru.

Karin made a serious face. _"Orochimaru. I know where you're heading and there's no way I'm allowing you to go near them."_ she thought.

...

10 minutes later.

Uzumaki Clan's Mask Storage Temple.

Orochimaru, Jugo, Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin, who were now wearing black hooded cloaks, were standing a few feet away from the Temple.

"So this is it...?" Sasuke asked.

"There seems to be no one here." Orochimaru said.

"This place is enormous." Suigetsu said.

Karin folded her arms. "None of you are going inside." she said.

Jugo, Sasuke, and Suigetsu looked at Karin.

Orochimaru smirked before he walked forward only to be stopped when a clear barrier suddenly appeared around the temple. "What is this?" he asked, attempting to go in again before he stopped.

Jugo, Sasuke, and Suigetsu looked at the clear barrier.

"It's a barrier the my clan created using our chakra to outsiders from stealing our masks for evil purposes." Karin said.

Orochimaru, Jugo, Sasuke, and Suigetsu looked at Karin.

"We need to use one of them." Sasuke said.

"What? So you can revive them and him getting control of his arms then destroy the village?" Karin questioned.

"But we need to use one so Sasuke can answer his questions." Suigetsu said.

"That creep is not going anywhere near them." Karin said.

"What about Naruto-kun?" Orochimaru asked.

Karin looked at Orochimaru, annoyed.

"You won't be able to help him or end the war your clan is also fighting in without it." Orochimaru said.

Karin was about to yell at Orochimaru but stopped herself as started to think about what Orochimaru just said before she closed her eyes and started to think.

Orochimaru, Jugo, Sasuke, and Suigetsu looked at Karin.

Karin sighed before she opened her eyes. "Fine. I'll go into the temple and get the mask but only one person can go with me and that can't come in." she said unfolding her arms walked forward.

Sasuke walked after Karin as they walked up the stairs and into the temple as Orochimaru, Jugo, and Suigetsu stayed outside.

Sasuke and Karin stopped inside the temple.

"Which one is it?" Sasuke asked.

Karin looked around at the masks. "Be patient. I'm trying to look for it." she said then looked up at the upper right side to see a white mask with 2 horns on its head, looked old and was smirking evilly with teeth showing. "Found it." then walked forward and jumped up and grabbed the mask with her right hand before landed on the ground. She looked down at it. "Let's go." then turned around and walked away as Sasuke followed after her.

Sasuke and Karin walked out of the temple and down the stairs.

"You found it." Orochimaru said.

Sasuke and Karin stopped walking.

Karin looked at Orochimaru, annoyed. "Of course I am. I've studied these masks for years." she said.

"Man, this place gives me the creeps... If you found what we were looking for, can we please get out of here?" Suigetsu asked.

"Yes, let's go..." Orochimaru said then looked at Sasuke. "To the place where all the secrets sleep."

Karin looked up into the air as she suddenly sensed a very familiar chakra coming.

Sasuke looked at Karin. "What's the matter?" he asked.

"I sense my Uncle Minato coming here." Karin said.

"What?! Isn't your uncle still the Hokage?" Suigetsu asked.

"Hai and we'd better get going." Karin said.

...

10 minutes later.

Orochimaru, Jugo, Sasuke, Suigetsu, and Karin were walking as a few people were nearby and talking. Suddenly Sasuke and Karin jumped up on the buildings as they were reaching the top.

Orochimaru, Jugo, and Suigetsu stopped walking as they looked up at Sasuke and Karin.

"Huh?" Suigetsu asked.

From left to right, Sasuke and Karin stopped on one of the buildings together before they unhooded themselves with their hands as they looked down at the village.

"This place sure has changed a lot too." Sasuke said

"I wonder how they constructed so fast if it was destroyed?" Karin asked.

Suigetsu placed his right arm on his right arm on his right hip. "What is up with Sasuke and Karin now?" he asked.

"They're like me before Sasuke wanted to destroy the Leaf." Orochimaru said.

Suigetsu looked at Orochimaru confused. "How so?" he asked.

"You see, though they and the village changed. This place still remains their home land. Even though Karin made up her mind, Sasuke needs time to reconfirm his decision and resolve but immersing in sentimentality and by retracing his past." Orochimaru said.

 _"Hmmm... I see."_ Suigetsu thought. "So you're over it already then?" he asked.

Orochimaru looked at Suigetsu.

"That and merging sentimentality to confirm your resolve to destroy the Leaf thing." Suigetsu said.

Orochimaru smiled.

"Hey you know, come to think of it all of a sudden were cream topped off subordinates isn't that right?" Suigetsu asked, raising his hands a little. "And right now, we're here inside the Leaf village with all the strong folk away fighting the war. So isn't this like the absolute perfect chance for you?"

"Yes perhaps, well except for one little thing..." Orochimaru said.

Suigetsu became confused, lowering his arms. "Huh?" he asked.

"You're no longer Hebi anymore." Orochimaru said.

...

10 minutes later.

Uchiha Clan compound.

Nakano Shrine.

Orochimaru and Take were inside the shrine as it was empty but still remained cautious. Sasuke removed the seventh tatami mat from the far right with both hands before he made the Naka Shrine Pass Technique hand signs with both hands before a large rectangular grey rock rose from the air as it revealed passage way that had stairs.

 _"So this is where all of the Uchihas go when they have a meeting."_ Karin thought, looking down at the entry way.

"Wow, youou use a jutsu to remove the entry stone..." Suigetsu said.

"There's barely any Uchihas here right now." Orochimaru said.

"They all went to war. Let's go." Sasuke said lowering his arms and jumped inside the entry.

Orochimaru, Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin walked down the stairs and saw the stone tablet in the middle, Uchiha crests, 2 torches lighting up.

Sasuke was standing on the left side near the torch. From left to right, Karin, Suigetsu, Orochimaru, and Jugo were standing a few feet behind Sasuke.

"Well then, I'm going to get started." Orochimaru said then started taking off his cloak with both hands and dropped it to the ground.

Sasuke took his cloak with both hands then dropped it to the ground before he looked at Orochimaru.

"It's best if you stand back." Orochimaru said.

Sasuke turned around and walked away before he stopped near Orochimaru.

Karin took her cloak with both hands and dropped it to the ground before her eyes widened at Minato's chakra coming towards them. "Hurry up. I sense my Uncle Minato coming." she said then walked over to Orochimaru and handed him the mask with her right hand, which Orochimaru accepted with his left hand, and backed away from him and stopped.

Orochimaru put the mask on his face with his left hand and lowered it before he was literally by chakra. He screamed as he moved around and turned around then shadow of the spirit appeared.

Take looked up at spirit.

 _"It's just like that day."_ Karin thought, remembering Orochimaru battling Hiruzen and Minato over years ago.

They started to remember what Orochimaru said when they were walking to Konoha.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"In order to perform what is written in that scroll. First, the Death God's Mask is necessary. That is inside the Uzumaki Clan's Noh Mask Hall in the compound. And one must allow the Death God of the Reaper Death Seal to possess onself and guide it forth. Slice open the Death God's abdomen and the seal will come undone. Although I shall then end up as a human sacrifice." Orochimaru said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

The death God grabbed the knife from his mouth with his left hand and sliced his stomach. Orochimaru screamed as his stomach was also cut open.

...

 _Flashback._

 _"However, it will also allow me to get back both of my arms from inside the Death God's belly." Orochimaru said._

 _Flashback Ends._

3 spirits came out of the death god's belly as well as Orochimaru's power to his arms. The power to Orochimaru's arms returned to Orochimaru while the 3 spirits floated in the air.

Orochimaru raised his arms. "They're mine again!" he said.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"If I regain the power in those arms, I can perform the Reanimation Jutsu. That's right... I can revive those 3. Of course in that case, you're well aware of what will then become necessary..." he said._

 _Suigetsu pointed his right index finger at Orochimaru, shocked. "Ah no, you're planning on using as sacrifices for the Reanimation Jutsu, aren't you?!" he questioned._

 _"That's not such a bad idea, but we've actually got something better than you guys. Though it's still invisible to you yet." Orochimaru said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Orochimaru took off the mask with his left hand before the death God disappeared. "Jugo, Sasuke, Suigetsu... Get ready now!" he said.

"Got it. Right." Jugo said, walking over to Sasuke and placed his right hand on Sasuke's right shoulder and his right arm transformed alongside some of the right side of his face.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"Now Jugo, give Sasuke some of your curse Mark Sage Power." Orochimaru said._

 _Flashback ends._

 _..._

Sasuke closed his eyes.

Karin could sense her Uncle Minato getting closer. _"We better hurry up."_ she thought.

As Jugo gave Sasuke some of his chakra, Jugo turned into a child again as 5 white Zetsu clones came out of Sasuke, who opened his eyes.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"And when you do, the Zetsus that Tobi stuck on to Sasuke to watch him shall respond and rise up to the surface." Orochimaru said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Orochimaru was crouching down as he held his stomach with his right hand, bleeding from his mouth.

"Damn it! How did you-?!" one of the white Zetsus asked but was cut off.

"I know your Hashirama's cells inside and out from all of my experiments." Orochimaru said then coughed. "And that includes how to detect you of course. 5 of you huh?" then 5 white snakes came out of his left leg pants and slithered away. "Tobi sure wasn't taking any chances!"

The snakes wrapped themselves tightly around the white Zetsus, who were now laying on the ground.

"When I reclaimed and reabsorbed my chakra from Kabuto, all his intel was transferred into me as well. And he'd thoroughly investigated the 5 of you that had been attached to Sasuke. I possess the DNA of those 3 since I love collecting and storing knowledge too." Orochimaru said.

...

A little later.

From left to right, Jugo, who was holding down a white Zetsu clone on the floor, Karin, who was standing up, Sasuke, who was standing up, and Suigetsu, who was holding down one of the white Zetsu clones, were near the stone tablet as Orochimaru stood in front of them.

Orochimaru was crouching down as his right hand was on the ground and making a seal as he binded the 3 white Zetsu clones with his seal.

"Suigetsu, Jugo... Take care of the remaining 2." Orochimaru said.

"Okay, Orochimaru-sama! You got it." Suigetsu said, opening the white Zetsu clone's mouth with both of his hands.

Jugo absorbed one of the white Zetsu clones as he turned back into his regular size and age again.

Orochimaru lifted his right hand up. "Reanimation Jutsu!" he said then placed his right hand on the floor again.

The 3 spirits entered the 3 white Zetsu clones as they started to transform into the 3 dead Hokages. From left to right, Hashirama Senju, a tall man that looked to be in his early 30s, tanned skin, black eyes, straight waist-length dark brown hair typically styled in a centre-parted fringe that framed his face, in his usual outfit, a dark red armour worn over a simple black suit, black sandals, red armour was constructed from numerous metal plates, formed into multiple protective guards along his body; each collar of his shoulder guards bore the Senju symbol, and a black clothed Konohagakure forehead protector, Tobirama Senju, a fair-skinned man that lokked to be in his early 30s, white, shaggy hair, red eyes, three red markings on his face, one under each of his eyes and one on his chin, in his usual outfit, a dark blue armour with a distinctive white fur collar over a simple black suit, armour was constructed from numerous metal plates, formed into multiple protective guards along his body., beneath his shoulder armour he wore two bands on each arm, black sandals and a grey happuri in place of the Konohagakure forehead protector, and Hiruzen Sarutobi, looked to be 69 years old but was 72 years old, in his shinobi battle armour, a black and green armoured hood with a bandanna-like forehead protector over this, tied with two black long straps, a black jumpsuit, mesh segments over the lower portions of his limbs, and a green gauntlet that covered much of his right arm, and dark brown sandals, as their eyes had black irises now.

Karin felt her heart beating faster as she sensed her Uncle Minato a few meters away. _"He's here...!"_ she thought.

"Now, here I come!" Orochimaru said before a white snake came of his mouth and entered the white Zetsu clone's mouth that Suigetsu had before he started transforming to his usual outfit.

Suigetsu released the former white Zetsu clone to the now Orochimaru.

Orochimaru smirked. "Yes. They, who are all-knowing..." he said then stood up.

Minato, in his usual outfit as he activated his Sage Mode, suddenly appeared on the left side of Hiruzen. "Karin, what are you guys doing here?" he asked.

"U-uncle Minato...!" Karin said.

"He's fast." Suigetsu said, standing up.

Jugo stood up as well.

"The previous Hokages!" Orochimaru said.

Minato unactivated his Sage Mode as he looked at the 3 dead Hokages. "You reanimated them." he said then looked back at Orochimaru and Team Taka.

"That's the first Hokage?" Suigetsu asked, pointing his left index finger at Hashirama. "The real Hashirama who's been touted as a God of Shinobi?" then lowered his left arm.

Hashirama became confused.

"Don't tell me it's that shinobi Ochimaru again!" Tobirama said.

Hashirama looked at Hiruzen and Tobirama. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Hiruzen looked at Hashirama. "I suspect what's going on is that he undid the Reaper Death Seal, the very same thing that sealed us away and then performed the Reanimation Jutsu." he said then looked forward.

"No way... You solved how to undo that Sealing Jutsu?" Minato asked, looking at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru smirked as he transformed completely to his usual self and outfit.

"How did you do that Orochimaru?" Minato asked.

"You underestimate me, Minato. It was originally a Sealing Jutsu in the Uzumaki Clan... I extensively researched the old ruins and scattered the documents of the clan's old home ever since I lost my jutsu." Orochimaru said.

Karin looked at Orochimaru serious. "There must have been copies left behind since he can't have researched them in the village." she thought then looked forward.

Tobirama folded his arms as he looked at Minato.

Minato looked at Hashirama. "Well Lord First... it appears that you 3 have been recalled to the world of the living." he said.

Hashirama looked at Minato confused. "Who the hell are you?!" he asked.

Hiruzen became confused as he gasped then looked at Minato.

"You don't remember 3 years ago?" Minato asked then turned around and pointed his hoari with both hands. "The 4th Hokage, sir."

Hashirama smiled. "Oh? The 4th Hokage, you say?" he asked.

Minato stopped pointing as he turned back around.

Suigetsu stood on the left side of Sasuke as Orochimaru and Team Taka watched the scene.

"Nice, nice!" Hashirama said then spreaded his arms. "So the village has remained stable then!"

"Uh, not actually, the village was destroyed a few months ago and rebuild again but I disappeared for awhile before returning." Minato said.

Hashirama stopped smiling as he placed his arms down. "Hm? Is that so..." he asked then walked forward and stopped near Hiruzen. "So who was temporarily the 5th Hokage then." raising his arms a little bit.

"Your granddaughter, Princess Tsunade." Orochimaru said.

Hashirama lowered his arms as he became gloomy. "Tsuna, huh? he asked.

Minato closed his eyes as he smiled nervously.

"How long were you gone and is the village still okay?" Hashirama asked.

"Is there something to be worried about?" Minato asked, opening his eyes.

Hashirama stopped becoming gloomy as he smiled again. "She was my first grandchild, so I spoiled her rotten! In the end, she eventually picked up my gambling habit I'm afraid..." picturing a kid Tsunade then laughed.

Suigetsu became confused. _"He's not quite what I expected of someone considered to be the God of Shinobi! How do I put it, uh?"_ he thought.

 _"He's different from the last time I saw him but then again he was fighting the 3rd Hokage and my Uncle Minato."_ Karin thought.

Hashirama stopped laughing.

Tobirama raised his right arm as he looked at it. "It's the Reanimation Jutsu again... I can't believe the Jutsu I devised would be used so casually." he said then lowered his right arm.

"Well, it really isn't all that complex a jutsu. However, you should not have created it in the first place." Orochimaru said.

Tobirama looked at Orochimaru confused. Hashirama, Hiruzen, and Minato looked at Orochimaru as well.

"Second-sama... Many of the policies that you created and jutsus that you'd developed causing problems later on down the line. Even now..." Orochimaru said.

Hashirama, who stopped smiling, Hiruzen, and Minato looked at Tobirama.

Tobirama looked at Orochimaru annoyed as he pointed his left index finger at him. "Why you! Are you planning to attack the Leaf again?!" he asked.

Hashirama, Hiruzen, and Minato looked at Orochimaru.

Tobirama folded his arms.

"I took away your jutsu in exchange for my own life. Yet even now you still and then at this time you revived me, your former master to pick me against the Leaf and Minato!" Hiruzen said.

Hashirama closed his eyes as he placed his left hand on his head, sighing. "Conflict, no matter what era, huh? For sure it can't be called a great jutsu." he asked then opened his eyes and turned to Tobirama as he lowered his left arm and raised his right arm. "Tobirama, that's why I told you that time to..." but was cut off.

Tobirama looked at Hashirama. "Will you be quiet, Elder brother? I'm trying to talk to this Stripling right now." he asked.

"What? But I..." Hashirama asked but was cut off.

"Shut up!" Tobirama said.

Hashirama lowered his right hand as he became shocked then gloomy as he turned forward.

 _"So not dignified for the God of Shinobi!"_ Suigetsu thought.

Orochimaru spreaded his arms. "Please do not misunderstand. I do not have anymore leanings in that direction at all." he said.

Hashirama stopped being gloomy before he, Tobirama, Hiruzen, and Minato looked at Orochimaru.

"Haven't you noticed that I'm not suppressing your personalities. There are certain circumstances are at play this time." Orochimaru said then walked towards Sasuke then stopped on the left side of Suigetsu. "I am merely creating a stage for discourse for his strong desire." lowering his arms.

"I am Sasuke Uchiha and I want to ask you Hokages some things." Sasuke said.

"Hm, you 2 Sasuke and Karin." Hiruzen said.

"You belong to the Uchiha do you? And you girl, judging by your large amounts of chakra and red hair you're from the Uzumaki clan. Of course the boy would stick with the scoundrel but I don't think the girl would." Tobirama asked.

Hashirama looked at Tobirama. "Tobirama! I thought I told you to stop saying things like that!" he said.

Tobirama looked at Hashirama. "You're too soft, elder brother!" he said.

"It doesn't matter." Sasuke said. "3rd and 4th Hokages... why'd you make Itachi do it?"

Minato's eyes widened for a moment.

"So, we take it you 2 learned what happened?" Hiruzen asked.

"Hai." Karin said.

"Itachi's dead... I killed him to avenge half of the Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan. Afterwards, me and Karin learned the truth from Tobi and Danzo. And I leaned towards swearing vengeance against the Hidden Leaf. However, I want to hear it straight from the 2 of your mouths. Everything regarding Itachi." Sasuke said.

"Is that true, Karin?" Minato asked.

"Yes but Sasuke didn't kill Itachi. He died of natural causes months ago. I secretly examined Itachi's corpse and saw in his blood system that he was taking medications. I'm guessing he knew that he was going to die but wanted Sasuke to believe that." Karin said.

"I see." Minato said.

"So, it came to that... I not only had him kill half of his brethren and the Uzumakis... and bear the false charge of traitor but also to keep tabs on the Akatsuki all by himself. From the time he was a small child, Itachi paid attention to the teachings and signs of the predecessors that no one else gave heed to. He was a sensitive child who understood our village's past and our shinobi. And perhaps, do to that the trappings of the clan never bound Itachi. He was able to think about the future of shinobi and of the village. And always had misgivings regarding those futures even at the age of 7, he thought quite like a Hokage. We left everything to Itachi in his hands alone... and he executed his missions perfectly. He slaughtered half of his clan and the Uzumaki clan, stop the revolt and prevent the coming war all by himself. He even infiltrated the Akatsuki as a spy to protect the village. All on the condition that we protect the other half of the Uchihas and Uzumakis." Hiruzen said.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "So all of it is true." he said.

Karin looked at Sasuke, annoyed. "There was evidence and they told us this and you're finally realizing this. You're pathetic." she said, looking forward. _"Now he's becoming slow like Suigetsu."_ she thought.

"This is all just part of the Uchihas curse at fate. And I can't believe the Uzumakis were also involved." Tobirama said.

Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at Tobirama.

"So they even plotted a coup de ta did they, along with the Uzumaki clan. I'd invisioned it might come to something like that. The rebellion elements bearing Madara's will have been smoldering." Tobirama said.

"But you're the one who drove them to it, Lord Second... It could be said that the seeds were sown with the Uchiha Leaf Police Force you created." Orochimaru said.

"What's did you say?" Tobirama asked.

"Those who control the crime also tend to be very easily disliked. The more authority such a group has, the more conceited it can get. By building the Police Station next to the prison under the pretext of facilitating the monitoring of criminals, you conspicuously shoved the Uchiha Clan to the margins of the village. That's what helped foster the adherents to Madara." Orochimaru said.

Hashirama looked at Tobirama. "Tobirama! Did I not emphasize to you many times not to slight the Uchiha, huh?" he asked.

Tobirama looked at Hashirama. "But I gave them posts that they were very eminently qualified for that if another Madara emerged I thought he could just be dealt with right away. As you well know, Elder brother, the Uchiha are... a clan possessed by evil!" he said.

"Huh?" Karin asked, interested.

"It's like Madara left a psychological scar upon you. To cause such fear of the Uchiha." Orochimaru said.

Hashirama and Tobirama looked at Orochimaru again.

"You stripling. You do not know Madara." Tobirama said.

"Second Hokage, a question for you... What is it about the Uchiha clan? What do you know?" Sasuke asked.

Tobirama closed his eyes and sighed before he opened his eyes again. "Alright, the Senju and Uchiha Clans have a long history. That is a long history of battling with each other. In fact, the 2 clans once bitter enemies." he said.

"I know that much... But what did you mean about the Uchihas being possessed by evil?" Sasuke asked.

Hashirama closed his eyes and opened his eyes again.

"There used to be a thought that in contrast to the Senju Clan, who based their strength on love as opposed to jutsu... The basis of the Uchiha Clan's strength was based on the power of their jutsu. However, the truth is actually different. There is no clan that feels deeper love than the Uchiha. And that's why the Uchihas have suppressed and sealed it away." Tobirama said.

"What did you mean?!" Sasuke asked.

"Once a member of the Uchiha comes to know love it is as if all of his or her previously check emotions are released. They awaken a strong love and power that exceeds even the Senjus awakened." Tobirama said.

"But why is that a problem? It should help the bond with the Senju this super strong power of love shouldn't it?" Suigetsu asked.

"Except that it is quite problematic. This great power hides within at the possibility of losing control. When an Uchiha has known love then loses that deep love. It is replaced by an even greater hate that changes them. I've seen it happen quite a few times and that's when a special condition emerges." Tobirama said.

"A special condition?" Sasuke asked.

"When an Uchiha rise in agony over the loss of the great love or from disappointment in themselves, the unique chakra released in their brains and reacts with the optic nerves changes and appear in the person's eyes. This phenomena is called the Sharingan, the eyes that reflects the heart. The Sharingan taps with the power of that person's heart. Rapidly increasing their strength along with the power of their hate. There were many sensitive individuals among the Uchihas, and nearly all exposed to strong emotions were taken by darkness and fell to evil. The deeper the darkness gets the greater the Visual Prowess until that person can't be stopped just like Madara." Tobirama said.

"Madara cares deeply about his younger brother... His love was, perhaps, greater than your brother's love for you." Hashirama said.

Sasuke closed his eyes.

 _"I see. My father and Fugaku did have a brother-like relationship but I never thought something like this. No wonder he was able to activate it."_ Karin thought.

"I thought I'd arranged and guided things since the Uchihas power could be harnessed to serve the village, although if they're self destruction benefited the village been so be it either way in the end they were of use to the Leaf Village." Tobirama said.

Hashirama looked at Tobirama. "Tobirama! Stop saying such things! You are speaking to an innocent Uchiha child!" he said.

"What is all important is the village. The village is the keystone. I know you know that too, elder brother." Tobirama said.

"It doesn't bother me. I am neither innocent nor a child." Sasuke said, opening his eyes as he activated his Mangekyo Sharingan.

Karin looked at Sasuke, serious. "What are you doing?!" she asked.

Hashirama and Tobirama looked at Sasuke's eyes.

 _"It's not the standard pattern... He's got the Mangekyo Sharingan..."_ Tobirama thought.

"First Hokage... I ask you this... What does it mean to be a village? And what does it mean to be a shinobi?" Sasuke asked.

"Unactivated that right now." Karin said.

Hashirama closed his eyes and placed his left hand on his chin. "What is a village and what are shinobi huh?" he questioned.

"My older brother Itachi, despite having been used by the Leaf Village, still defended it with his life and he died proud that he was a Leaf Shinobi. Just what is this village that once stride to protect even if it meant killing one's clan members or one's own death?" Sasuke asked.

Hashirama opened his eyes as he placed his left hand on his left hip.

"And what are shinobi who have created such circumstances and considered them to be acceptable?" Sasuke asked. "I'll listen to your response and find out the truth, and then I'll make my decision..." then unactivated his Mangekyo Sharingan to crow black eyes. "Whether or not to declare vengeance on the Leaf. Or..." then started to remember his conversation with Orochimaru.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _From left to right, Sasuke and Orochimaru were walking on a dirt path._

 _Sasuke looked at Orochimaru. "Orochimaru..." he said._

 _Orochimaru looked at Sasuke. "What is it?" he asked._

 _"You once tried to destroy the Leaf Village. At first, when you said you did it on a whim, I believed you But now, I know it was something different. What was the real reason?" Sasuke asked._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

"Are you really apart of this, Karin?" Minato asked.

Karin looked at Minato with a concerned look. "No, I stop being apart of this when he mentioned possibly destroying the Village for not getting the answers he wants." she said. _"And beside, I can't see myself fighting my family and people that I care about."_ she thought.

"Vengeance against the Hidden Leaf?" Tobirama questioned. "You brat possessed with the Uchiha evil! In that case I shall..." activating a burst of wind.

Everyone became surprised and looked at Tobirama as Suigetsu hid behind Orochimaru, and Karin covered her face with her arms.

Tobirama lifted his left index finger up from his folded arms.

"Second-sama!" Hiruzen said.

"Tobirama!" Hashirama said before the floor cracked around him.

Jugo stepped in front of Sasuke and Karin as he held up his left arm. Orochimaru held his left index and middle fingers up.

 _"Now we're talking presence! Like seriously."_ Suigetsu thought.

Tobirama looked at Hashirama.

"Lower your finger." Hashirama said.

"All right... Don't get your chakra, elder brother." Tobirama said, lowering his left index finger as the wind stopped.

The ground stopped cracking around Hashirama.

Tobirama closed his eyes.

Hashirama closed his eyes and laughed, placing his left hand on his left hip then opened his eyes and stopped laughing. "Sorry about that!" he said.

Jugo stopped stepping in front of Sasuke and Karin and was now on the right side. Karin lowered her arms from her face as Minato made a surprised look and Hiruzen closed his eyes and placed his left hand on his chest sighing in relief before he opened his eyes and placed his left arm down.

Minato looked up as he noticed the ceiling, raising his hands midway. "Wow, that's incredible!" he said.

 _"You haven't changed a bit, Hashirama-sama."_ Hiruzen thought.

Orochimaru lowered his left arm.

Minato stopped looking up at the ceiling before he lowered his hands.

"Well then, Sasuke, you had a good older brother. He was a greater Shinobi than I ever was! I don't mind telling you more about the village, but it'll take a while." Hashirama said, lowering his left arm.

 _"Itachi wasn't a great shinobi!"_ Karin thought.

"If possible, please tell the child everything he wants to know quickly? We don't really have much time." Orochimaru asked.

"Why is there no time?" Hiruzen asked.

"We're in the middle of a war. Madara Uchiha has been revived and apparently intends to erase all of the shinobi of this world." Orochimaru said.

Tobirama opened his eyes as he Minato, and Hiruzen became shocked.

Hashirama closed his eyes and placed his left hand over his face, sighing. "Always conflict, no matter what the era." he said.

Minato started to feel the chakra in the air.

Tobirama closed his eyes. "I definitely do sense some powerful chakra." he said, opening his eyes and looked up at the right side. "Over in the direction of 2 o'clock." unfolding his arms and walked over to the right side and stopped near a wall.

 _"This is Naruto and the Nine Tails' chakra. I see. So you did it Naruto! And you're fighting together... even now!"_ Minato thought.

"It seems to be the truth." Tobirama said then closed his eyes. "I do indeed sense Madara's chakra."

Hiruzen raised his left fist. "Then we ought to head right to the battlefield." he said.

"As you 3 are under the control of my Reanimation Jutsu, your movements can be restricted. If you insist you may head down to the battlefield after we're done talking." Orochimaru said.

Hiruzen moved his left arm around once. "No we can talk later! Do you truly understand this? The gravity of Madara's being revived?" he asked.

 _"Yes, I sense the very powerful chakras battling each other."_ Karin thought.

"Still, I'm staying with his child. If the explanation that you give don't satisfy Sasuke-kun, I may use the 3 of you to destroy the Leaf now and I doubt Minato could face all of you. The timing couldn't be better." Orochimaru said.

 _"No way in hell."_ Karin thought.

"Uh curse this jutsu!" Hiruzen said.

"Uncle Minato." Karin said, her eyes filled with sadness and concern.

"It's alright, Karin." Minato said.

Tobirama placed his right hand on the wall, opening his eyes. "Orochimaru, is it? You seem to be misunderstanding something." he asked then looked at Orochimaru. "The fact that you've made the Reanimation Jutsu more precise since last time so be you're done for."

Everyone looked at Tobirama.

"Now that all of us here are revived at merely our original power..." Tobirama said then some of the wall cracked on the right side. "I am not someone who can be bound by the Reanimation of one such as you. Don't forget, I'm the one who devised this jutsu in the first place." then looked at Hashirama. "Elder brother, you must agree that we have no choice. I will take action!"

Orochimaru put his hands together.

Tobirama looked forward as he couldn't move anymore.

"Well, Sarutobi you certainly raised quite a shinobi." Hashirama said, looking at Orochimaru.

"It is an honor to be praised by the God of Shinobi himself." Orochimaru said.

Karin looked at Orochimaru, serious. "That's it! I had enough of this!" she thought, quietly reaching into her shuriken holster with her left hand.

Hashirama laughed for a moment then looked at Tobirama. "He's acquired my cells and enhanced his power to bind us. Tobirama... Your instincts have dulled a bit." he said.

 _"Damn him... I do I take a closer look, most of his body is composed of my older brother's cells..."_ Tobirama thought then noticed Karin has her left hand in her shuriken holster. _"What is she doing?"_

Hashirama looked at Orochimaru and smiled. "Now then..." he said.

 _"First Hokage Hashirama... He's different. He could undo my bindings at any time... I'll have to be careful not to let down my guard."_ he thought.

Karin pulled a kunai with her left hand and coated it with her chakra before she threw it at Orochimaru, who was distracted, as it pierced through his right hand and a little bit of his left hand.

Orochimaru grunted in pain and pulled his hands apart, unbinding Tobirama in the process.

"Thank you." Tobirama said.

Everyone looked at Karin.

"Why you little-" Orochimaru said but was cut off.

"If you think we're going to let you do that because you're following a dim whit, you're sadly mistaken." Karin said.

"Karin-" Sasuke said but was cut off.

"Just shut up!" Karin said.

"Well, Minato it seems you have a brilliant niece." Hashirama said, looking at Minato. "She reminds me a little about Mito."

Suigetsu backed away a little so he wouldn't be Karin's next target.

Hashirama looked at Karin. "Karin, was it?" he asked.

Karin looked at Hashirama.

"Listen, that won't be necessary. I shall prioritize and doing the I'll feelings that are binding this child. Of course, I can't know what he'll decide after he finishes listening to me... But I do know that if we ignore him now he will definitely be one the next Madara. In that case, even if the war ends and we win it would be meaningless."

Everyone looked at Hashirama.

"Do as you please, elder brother." Tobirama said.

"Fine." Karin said, turning forward.

Hashirama sat down on the floor. "Now then... Where exactly should I begin this tale?" he asked then closed his eyes. "Yes... In order to tell you about village and shinobi... I must first speak of the Uchiha and Senju Clans..."

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"And that was the first time I encountered Madara Uchiha." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"Our personalities differed, and yet I sensed a mysterious kinship with him. All the same, I felt that I knew why'd he come down to the river too." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"During the Era of Waring States, the average life expectance of both shinobi and citizens was around 30 years old. And the reason the average was so low was... The deaths of many young children." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"In all honesty, I was shocked... That another person understood how I felt especially considering all the people that didn't. So there was another foolish kid, who thought as I did, who wanted to try to change this war-torn era. Maybe shocked isn't the right word... To me, Madara was a gift from the divine." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"Not that we thought alike in every respect of course... After that, we started meeting up every now and then, still without knowing each other's family names... We'd spar and compare our shinobi moves or talk about the future..." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"Each time we met, we became closer friends." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"That was where the Village Hidden in the Leaves would eventually stand. I made a resolution that day. I swore I would endure for the sake of my vision." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"It seemed the Uchiha coincidentally had the same idea. Exactly the same circumstances. Butsuma Senju and Tajima Uchiha both knew from numerous prior clashes that they possessed practically equal strength. Shinobi are trained to keep their hearts in check on the battlefield, no matter what happens. A single flash of emotional display can lead to vulnerability and mean the difference between life and death. However... The 2 adults were well aware... that if their own child were killed right before their eyes, it would likely, no matter how slight, unbalance their heart. Meaning... whoever could land the first strike would determine the outcome." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"In that moment, I felt like I understood what awakening the Sharingan truly signified. He decided to completely erase his friend. To erase me from his life. After that, we battled. We fought each other day after day. And before we knew it, we'd each become our respective clan's leaders. We were at the furthest place possible... from the dream that we wanted to fulfill." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"It was clear to all that the Uchiha Clan was in an unfavorable position. In fact, defectors to the Senju soon began showing up. And that's about when Madara changed as well. He had obtained the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"At the end of a battle that lasted a whole day... Madara's back touched the ground for the very first time." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"Madara had given me a choice, an option where I wouldn't have to kill my little brother. He knew all too well... how an older brother feels towards his younger siblings." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"It was like a dream... The Uchiha and the Senju had formed an alliance. There would no longer be any casualties, nor would anymore children have to die. And so, at last we began building our village. Later, we would Ally with the Land of Fire, and the creation of a peaceful state where nation and village stood on equal footing also commenced. In any case, it was like a dream." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"It took a long time, but it felt like we were back to being the friends we once were." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"And so... I became the First Hokage." Hashirama said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

"I became the First Hokage..." Hashirama said.

Everyone continued to look at Hashirama silently.

"From the Era of Waring States... where shinobi clans fought and killed each other... the Uchiha and the Senju joined together to create the ideal shinobi village... A shinobi village born from the hope for peace... That is the Village Hidden in the Leaves. And I became its First Hokage." Hashirama said.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"Upon saying those words, Madara left the village. We had come this far together. And now, Madara was gone from the village we had created together. But in the world, everyone respected and copied our village system of Allied Ninja Clans which had been created by the former warring rivals, the Uchiha and Senju, joining forces. Villages like the Village Hidden in the Leaves which began in the Land of Fire, and its one leader system, spread like wildfire across the Great Nations. In the Land of Lightning, Hidden Cloud Village was formed with its leader named Raikage. In the Land of Earth, Hidden Stone Village was formed with its leader named Tsuchikage. The Land of Water had the Hidden Mist with their Mizukage. And in the Land of Wind, the Hidden Sand was formed and they named their leader, Kazekage. Not only the Great Nations, but even the smaller nations adopted this system. Madara's and my dream had come true. Shinobi children learned and played instead of battling. And they started living long enough to even know the taste of alcohol. But, as if he wanted to destroy his previous dream... Madara came back to attack the Leaf Village." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"I made up my mind right then... to endure in order to watch over the present." Hashirama said._

 _..._

 _"And thus... my battle with Madara came to an end." Hashirama said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

"I don't know how Madara returned to life now. But I know I definitely killed my friend... For the sake of the village." Hashirama said then closed his eyes. "That's right... The village is.. the village that Madara and I envisioned... and beginning is something that joined 1 clan to another. It was an invaluable cornerstone created order out of chaos, then maintained it. It protected the children and averted pointless conflict. And it made peace a reality. However... it gave rise to darkness, the kind your brother Itachi was forced to bear." then opened his eyes. "Perhaps what Madara said was correct, after all. Perhaps he foresaw this state of affairs. Still I am the shinobi who created these circumstances. Furthermore, I am also the one who considered them acceptable. And I believe that shinobi are the ones who endure for a purpose. But depending on what that purpose is a shinobi can change. Just as both Madara... and I did." Hashirama said.

"So Shinobi... Shinobi are defined as those who endure... in order to achieve their goals." Sasuke said.

"From me, it was building a village. But it appeared that Madara found something else. About this plan of Madara's that Orochimaru mentioned earlier... To erase all the shinobi in the world... I don't know what that means in a literal terms, but..." Hashirama said.

"It's the Infinite Tsukuyomi where village, shinobi, and citizen are all irrelevant. He'll put everyone under genjutsu and manipulate them as he sees fit. To negate everything that my older brother, Madara's little brother... and all of you... have tried to protect." Sasuke said.

Everyone looked at Sasuke.

"It turns out my brother inherited your will without you ever having to exchange words with him." Sasuke said. "My older brother... Even as he shouldered that heavy responsibility for our clan... He stood between the village and the clans in their strife... He even killed half of the Uzumaki clan... He was forced to kill half of his clan and endure the brand as a Rogue Ninja... Yet, he continued to keep an eye on the organization that wanted to harm the village. And even in death... My older brother endured longer and harder than you. When he died he still said that he was proud to be a Leaf Shinobi." then smiled as he remember a few things from the past. "Isn't it ironic that the shinobi who understood you more than anyone else... was a shinobi from the Uchiha Clan?" then stopped smiling

"Your brother was not the only one." Tobirama said, folding his arms.

Everyone looked at Tobirama.

"I had a subordinate named Kagami Uchiha who was like your brother." Tobirama said.

"Second Hokage... I thought you despised the Uchiha." Sasuke said.

"That's not entirely true. I treated anyone who posted a danger to the village, no matter what clan they belonged to, with extreme caution. And there's no doubt that the Uchiha Clan warranted my suspicions... The Uchiha just happened to be a clan particularly disposed to be considered as such. But, it is also because they could feel such deep love that there were quite a few Uchiha over the years like your brother and Kagami... who could transcend the boundaries of the clan and devote themselves to the village. My elder brother believed the village was something that could eliminate the framework of clans. Well, the reality is... This wasn't so simple." Tobirama said then unfolding his arms. "The idealism of my elder brother Hashirama... And the danger that Madara posed... Mediating between these 2 things, and protecting and strengthening the village were my duties as the Second Hokage."

Everyone except Hashirama, who was looking at Tobirama annoyed, looked at Sasuke.

"Shisui Uchiha was a descendant of Kagami Uchiha. He was a friend of your older brother Itachi. Many, including myself, embraced the First Hokage's Will of Fire. But perhaps, I was more naive than any other shinobi. I wasn't able to continue the Second Hokage's task of village-building skillfully enough. Which is how I ended up burdening Danzo with the village's darkness." Hiruzen said.

"I killed Danzo in vengeance. Until the end, he spoke that he would protect the village, no matter how dirty the means." Sasuke said.

"It seems I've failed miserably time after time as the Hokage. I guess I'm responsible for creating the situation that exists now." Hiruzen said.

Minato looked at Hiruzen. "No... You're not to blame, 3rd-sama. You did everything you could for the sake of the village respectably. I'm the one who stopped the Nine Tails' on the village! You had such high hopes for me as the Hokage..." he said.

Everyone looked at Minato.

"And I can't live up to them." Minato said.

 _"Uncle Minato, you are a great Hokage. If father was still alive, he would be proud of you."_ Karin thought.

"I'll say... After he passed over me and picked you." Orochimaru said.

Karin looked at Orochimaru annoyed.

Minato closed his eyes.

"Everyone was so disappointed." Orochimaru said.

"That would've been a disaster." Karin said then looked forward.

Suigetsu looked at Orochimaru. "Orochimaru-sama... You sound like you're pouting." he said.

"A little... since the Third Hokage is right here." Orochimaru said.

Everyone looked at Sasuke.

"Had I told them, perhaps I could have done more to foil half of the Uchiha's and Uzumaki's plans for a coup d'etat much sooner..."Minato said.

"You did everything you can Uncle Minato." Karin said.

"Now then... Sasuke-kun... What will you do? Will you destroy the village? Or..." Orochimaru asked.

Sasuke closed his eyes as he started to remember some memories of Itachi before he opened his eyes again. "I am going to the battlefield! I won't let the village, and Itachi become nothing!" he said.

Hashirama smiled. "It's been decided then!" he said then stopped up. "Tobirama! Prepare to fly us outside!"

"Even if I wanted to use Flying Raijin, I'll be bound again." Tobirama said, looking at Hashirama.

Hashirama and Tobirama looked at Orochimaru.

"Orochimaru, was it? What will you do?" Hashirama asked.

"You said earlier that you'd follow Sasuke." Hiruzen said.

Orochimaru smiled. "Of course... We will accompany him." he said.

Suigetsu became shocked. "What?!" he asked then looked at Jugo. "J-Jugo, what about you?"

Jugo looked down at Suigetsu. "I'm going too. It's my job to protect Sasuke." he said.

Suigetsu looked at Karin. "What about you, Karin?" he asked.

"I need to help my Oniisan and others I care about in the war in order for it to end." Karin said.

Suigetsu looked forward, smirking nervously. _"3 super-stromg zombies... 4 monsters... If I tag along, I'm dead for sure! I'm making a break for it when I see a chance!"_ he thought.

...

9 minutes later.

Outside.

Above the Hokage Monument.

From left to right, Minato, Hiruzen, Tobirama, Hashirama, Karin, Sasuke, Jugo, and Orochimaru stood on it while Suigetsu stood a few feet behind them.

Hashirama placed his right hand on the top of his head. "Oh! This view brings back memories!" he said.

Suigetsu took a step backwards before he turned around and ran away. "It's now or never!" he thought.

Everyone looked behind at Suigetsu.

Karin suddenly sensed a familiar chakra coming towards them. "It's him." she thought.

As Suigetsu kept running away a boy that looked to be 15 years old had fair skin, crimson red hair that is short, and azure blue eyes, and in his usual outfit, a wearing a high collared long sleeved light brown shirt that had the Uzumaki crest on the back, long beige pants, and brown sandals, suddenly jumped up and kicked Suigetsu with his right foot, who immediately fell down.

"What the hell?!" Suigetsu thought, landing on his stomach.

The unknown boy now stood up on the ground and placed his left foot on Suigetsu's back. "What are you in Konoha?" he asked, looking down at Suigetsu, serious.

"Ruyu." Karin said then turned around and walked towards Suigetsu and Ruyu.

"Another one." Orochimaru said.

Ruyu looked up at Karin, who stopped a few feet from them. &Karin? What are you doing here?" he asked.

"We're going to help Oniisan and the others on the battlefield." Karin said.

"What?!" Ruyu asked.

"I don't have time to explain but..." Karin said then reached into her pouch with her left hand and pulled out the mask and held it up to Ruyu. "But can you please take this back to the mask hall?":

Ruyu looked down at the mask for a moment before he took it with his right hand. "Fine." he said.

"Thanks." Karin said.

"Who is he?" Hashirama asked, looking at Ruyu.

"Judging from the chakra and that red hair... He's from the Uzumaki Clan as well." Tobirama said.

Hiruzen walked towards Orochimaru and stopped next to him as they weren't facing each other.

"Orochimaru... Why did you decide to help Sasuke? You were trying to destroy the village." Hiruzen asked.

"After being inside Kabuto, I realized something... He imitated the way I lived and tried to possess everything, and failed. So now, I'm curious about the different path Sasuke-kun has chosen. Unlike Kabuto, Sasuke-kun didn't copy me." Orochimaru said.

Karin turned around and walked where she was before and stopped on the right side of Sasuke.

Everyone looked forward.

Hashirama smiled. "Fellow Hokage! As we stand atop the Great Stone Faces that have watched over the Hidden Leaf..." he said then raised his right fist. "Let us burn this sight of the village into the our memory!"

Tobirama unfolded his arms and closed his eyes before he walked over to Hashirama and placed his right hand on the left side of Hashirama's left shoulder, sighing before the 2 brothers disappeared.

Minato placed his left hand on Hiruzen's right shoulder then they disappeared.

Everyone watched as the 4 Hokages headed to the 4 Monuments.

"I'm finally going to see my wife and son again. Naruto, I wasn't able to help and see you for a while... I'll make it up to you by bringing you a huge present." Minato said.

"All right! It's been a while since my last war! I'd better be on my toes!" Hiruzen said.

"Madara... We'll defeat you this time for sure!" Tobirama said.

"This may sound foolish, but I'm kind of looking forward to seeing my old friend! Just you wait, Madara! There's always conflict, no matter what the era. But this shall be the end of wars! Let's go!" Hashirama said.

The 4 Hokages were now on their head monuments.

...

30 minutes later.

As everyone was running towards the battlefield, Karin suddenly sensed 2 very familiar chakras and 4 familiar chakras fading far away on the left side of them.

Karin suddenly stopped as she looked at the left side. "Hold on!" she said.

Everyone stopped and looked at Karin.

"What is it?" Hashirama asked.

"I sense that Tsunade and the other Kages are really low on chakra in that direction." Karin said, pointing with her left index finger in the left direction.

Everyone looked in the direction Karin was pointing at.

"What do we do now?" Minato asked.

"I'll go help Tsunade while you guys head to the battlefield." Karin said.

"Me and Suigetsu are coming with you." Orochimaru said.

Suigetsu groaned.

"We'll join you guys later." Karin said.

"Okay." Sasuke said.

Orochimaru, Suigetsu, and Karin headed in the left direction while Hiruzen, Tobirama, Hashirama, Minato, Jugo, and Sasuke continued to head to the battlefield.

...

17 minutes later.

From Suigetsu, Orochimaru, and Karin continued to run to the location where Karin sensed Tsunade and the 4 other Kages.

 _"I sense powerful chakras being released. What's going on?!"_ Karin thought, curiously.

 _"At least I'm still safe! No thanks to being on the frontlines!"_ Suigetsu thought.

The 3 of them looked ahead to see broken trees and gravel everywhere.

"There they are." Orochimaru said.

Orochimaru, Suigetsu, and Karin jumped on top of the gravel to see an enormous white slug with three blue streaks that run vertically down the middle and side of its body from its head and tapering off at its tail, 2 optical tentacles have a slight tint of grey to them and it also has two sensory tentacles on either side of its mouth, and 4 medium sized slugs and lots of mini slugs beside her on the right side.

"Look at the sorry state you're in, Tsunade." Orochimaru said.

Karin's eyes widened in shock where she saw Tsunade, in her usual outfit but she didn't have her jacket and her clothes were slightly ripped up and doesn't have any lipstick on, cut in half at the waist as the waist as the slug was sitting on her. _"Tsunade...!"_ she thought.

"Gross... A gigantic slug... How much salt would you need to take it down?" Suigetsu asked.

"You're not hurting Katsuyu!" Karin said.

"That's just one part of Katsuyu that was summoned from Shikkotsu Woods. I'd say it's pretty small, actually." Orochimaru said.

"You don't say." Suigetsu said.

Karin looked at Orochimaru and Suigetsu, annoyed. "Come on. We have to help Tsunade and the other Kages. We have to heal them quickly so we can joined in the war." she said then looked forward.

Orochimaru and Suigetsu looked at Karin.

"Are you that upset because you couldn't stay with Sasuke-kun?" Orochimaru questioned.

Karin closed her eyes. "That's totally... not the case! Let's just do this!" she said then jumped over to where Katsuyu, Tsunade, and the other Kage are and stopped.

Orochimaru and Suigetsu went after Karin and stopped beside her.

"Tsunade-sama! Is that you, Karin-sama?" Katsuyu asked.

Karin looked up at Katsuyu. "Hai!" she said then looked down at Tsunade to see that her body had wrinkles. "Wait, so this is wait Tsunade looks like when her chakra is low?"

Suigetsu looked away to the left side in disgust. "Ugh... It's not like she had a really long torso either, right?" he asked.

"It seems you were reckless, Tsunade." Orochimaru said.

Tsunade slowly looked at Orochimaru and Karin. "Orochimaru? Karin?" she asked.

Katsuyu closed her mouth and filled it with Tongue Tooth Sticky Acid as she aimed it at Orochimaru.

Orochimaru looked up at Katsuyu, smirking. "Katsuyu... We came here to aid the 5 Kage. I'm not an enemy." he said.

"I know Karin-sama wouldn't harm her but I have no reason to believe you. Besides, you were dead!" Katsuyu said then started aim more.

Orochimaru and Karin didn't move as Suigetsu moved away.

"If I do anything that strikes you as suspect, you're welcome to kill me once and for all with your acid." Orochimaru said.

Katsuyu moved closer as Orochimaru and Karin didn't move and moved her optical tentacles around before she swallowed her acid.

"All right. I'll believe you." Katsuyu said.

"You're quite sensible, unlike Manda." Orochimaru said then looked at Karin. "Now then... First of all... Where are the other Kage?"

Katsuyu looked at the other 4 slugs. "They're recovering inside my fragments. They sustained serious injuries, and it's very..." she said.

Orochimaru and Karin looked at the 4 slugs.

"But Katsuyu... With you here, why is it taking so long for them to heal?" Orochimaru asked.

"Because it's not that simple." Karin said.

"Karin-sama's correct. I can only use my power in response to the strength of Tsunade-sama's 100 Healings. But Tsunade-sama is extremely weak right now, so I'm not able to activate my strength fully." Katsuyu said.

"Is that how the system worked?" Orochimaru asked.

Suigetsu came back and stopped near Orochimaru.

Orochimaru placed his left hand on his chin. "Anyway, whatever I remember, I've never seen Tsunade so weak. So it must be true." he said then lowered his left hand from his chin.

"I am trying to persevere and focus on healing, despite the Summoning starting to unravel. That's why I haven't been able to properly reattach her body." Katsuyu said.

Orochimaru looked at Suigetu. "Suigetsu, bring Tsunade's lower half and join it to her upper half." he said.

Suigetsu became surprised. "Huh?! I'm better at cutting things up." he said.

Karin looked down at Tsunade, worried.

Orochimaru walked to the left side.

Suigetsu walked forward before he stopped and crouched down next to Tsunade's lower half in the slugs and stuck his arms in them. "The slugs are all slimy and wriggly. Gross!" he said.

Karin looked at Suigetsy annoyed as she placed her hands on her hips. "Well, they're not gross, Suigetsu! You are!" she said. "In fact, you're gross and weird because you have a human form!" lowering her hands from her hips.

Suigetsu became even more creeped out when one of the slugs climbed on him.

Orochimaru looked at Karin. "Karin... Let her bite you so that she can heal." he said.

Karin looked at Orochimaru annoyed again. "That's what I'm going to do! I came here so I can heal Tsunade, not watch her die!" she said.

Suigetsu slowly joined Tsunade's upper and lower halves together.

Karin walked over to Tsunade and crouched down beside her before grabbed the back of her head with her right hand and held her up a little bit before she placed her left arm near Tsunade's mouth.

Tsunade bit Karin's left arm as she slowly started to regain a youthful appearance.

 _"Hurry up and heal, so we can go to the battlefield."_ Karin thought.

After a minute, Tsunade stopped biting Karin, who moved her left arm away, and sat up as her lower half was fully connected to her upper half again.

Suigetsu and Karin stood up and moved away from Tsunade a little bit.

Tsunade looked up at Karin. "Thank you. I appreciated it, Karin." she said then looked up at Orochimaru.

Karin just nodded.

"Tsunade-sama, you're going to be all right!" Katsuyu said.

"Tsunade, be a little grateful to me." Orochimaru said.

"You betrayed the village... So why all of this now?" Tsunade questioned.

"The range of things that interest me has expanded. In the past, I wanted to become the wind and turn the windmill myself. But now, I know the pleasure of waiting around for someone's wind. And I don't want that wind to get sealed away before I can enjoy it." Orochimaru said.

Tsunade looked down. "You still don't make any sense." she said then looked back at Orochimaru. "But... I supposed you've changed a little. I never imagined you would help me..."

Orochimaru spread his arms out a little. "Even that is possible." he said.

"Do you remember? The 3 Way Deadlock from that time?" Tsunade asked.

"The summoning..." Orochimaru said.

"No... Just like how it's written... The 3 Way Deadlock..." Tsunade said.

Orochimaru and Tsunade started to remember the past.

"People can change." Orochimaru said.

Tsunade looked down.

"Or they die before they do. It's one or the other. Although he died without changing..." Orochimaru said.

"He problably trusted you until the very end." Tsunade said then looked up at Orochimaru. "Orochimaru... If you were like this sooner, Jiraiya might not have had to die..."

"And if I had... Jiraiya might have changed too." Orochimaru said. "Like how it was for us, the Legendary Sannin, things don't always go the way you want them to. We're not made of stone. Distortions will appear somewhere." then started to think about Sasuke. _"Perhaps that's why I want to observe Sasuke-kun's future. While patiently waiting for his wind to blow."_ he thought.

Tsunade slowly stood up. "Fine. I also thank you for helping me heal. So... Do you know about the war?" she asked.

"Of course. That's why I'm helping you out like this." Orochimaru said.

Tsunade looked at the left side. "How long have I been like this?" she asked.

"I can report on the battle situation." Katsuyu said.

Tsunade and Karin looked up at Katsuyu.

"How did you end up on the front?" Tsunade asked.

Tsunade smiled. _"I see... Sakura summoned Katsuyu!"_ she thought.

 _"So... Sakura now has the Strength of a Hundred Seal..."_ Karin thought.

"Around now, a new 3-Way Deadlock is probably making their debut." Orochimaru said.

"What?" Tsunade asked.

"Well, we're heading back. You should work on healing the other Kage." Orochimaru said.

"Good luck, Tsunade." Karin said.

Orochimaru, Suigetsu, and Karin immediately jumped and towards the battlefield as Tsunade prepared to heal the other Kages.

...

25 minutes later.

Most shinobi had Nine Tails'chakra on them while some were dead and had none.

Orochimaru, Suigetsu, and Karin were jumping through the crowds of shinobi.

From left to right, Kushina, now 38 years old, her her wrapped up in a ponytail, in the Konoha flak jacket uniform, and in the Nine Tails' chakra mode, Minato, Tobirama, Hiruzen, who was now holding a large black and golden staff in his left hand, were standing up while Naruto, now 17 years old and in his usual outfit but it was ripped up a little, was crouching down.

"This giant tree is closely connected to Obito... They're like limbs that suck out chakra. We can't approach carelessly." Hiruzen said.

"Such words of weakness. So very unlike you." Orochimaru said.

Tobirama, Hiruzen, Minato, Kushina, and Naruto looked at the right side to see from left to right, Suigetsu, Orochimaru, and Karin were standing a few meters away from them.

"Sarutobi-Sensei..." Orochimaru said.

"Oniisan. Aunt Kushina." Karin said.

"Karin!" Kushina and Naruto said.

Karin looked away on the right side to avoid eye contact.

"Orochimaru... You're late... What of the 5 Kage?" Hiruzen asked.

"Karin had them healed. So as long as they don't chicken out, they should be coming." Orochimaru said.

"As sarcastic as ever, I see." Hiruzen said.

Suigetsu and Karin looked at right side to see from left to right, Jugo and Sasuke, were covered in the Nine Tails' chakra while standing on a large flat rock. They walked forward a little bit then stopped.

"Sorry I'm late Jugo! Sasuke!" Suigetsu said, looking up at Jugo.

Jugo looked down at Suigetsu. "You're here..." he said then looked forward again.

"Sasuke!" Karin said.

Sasuke looked down at Karin. "Karin." he said.

Karin looked up at Sasuke in amazement as he had his Sharingan activated.

Suigetsu looked up at the god tree as he placed his left hand on his head. "This tree is huge now that I see it up close. I wonder how long it'll take to cut down?" he asked.

Karin looked at Suigetsu, annoyed. "Who cares about that right now?!" she asked then looked up at Sasuke again. "What's important right now..." then smiled. _"... Is to figure out how to stop Tobi!"_ she thought.

Suigetsu lowered his left hand from his head and looked at Karin. "Is to heal the Allied Forces shinobi, right?" he asked.

Karin looked at Suigetsu annoyed again. "Yeah that too! I know that already, damn it!" she said.

Suigetsu looked at the god tree again.

Karin looked at Sasuke to see that he was motioning her to come over. She jumped up and landed on the right side of Sasuke before the 2 of them looked forward.

Orochimaru looked up at Sasuke. _"He seems to be in a foul mood."_ he thought.

The Hashirama clone looked up at the god tree. _"What's going on? When the bud blooms, the Infinite Tsukuyomi will be complete. That's what Madara said. And yet, after depleting the chakra of this many shinobi... the bud shows no signs of blooming."_ he thought.

Hashirama and Madara continued to fight each other.

"So when is it going to bloom?" Hashirama asked.

"The 8 and 9 Tails still live. Do you get it?" Madara questioned.

 _"So the chakra of the 8 and 9 Tails is essential to complete the jutsu..."_ Hashirama thought then noticed that the bud opened up a little bit.

"However, if it contains even a small amount of each of their chakra, it's fine." Madara said then raised his left hand as a long black rod came out of his left palm. "In other words, it's not like it can't bloom. All that is affected... is how long it will take to bloom. There's about 15 minutes to go. In that time, I shall stop Obito and switch places with him. Using your Sage Power."

The Hashirama clone continued to look up at the bud. " _This is bad. Everything my original just heard must be relayed to the Allied Force."_ he thought then looked at the right side and held out his right arm. "Anyone here belong to the Yamanaka Clan?!" he asked.

Choji, now 17 years old, in his usual outfit with the Konoha flack jacket, and had the Allied Shinobi Forces forehead protector on his forehead, Shino, now 17 years old and in his usual outfit, Sai, now 17 years old and in the Konoha flak jacket uniform, Kiba, now 17 years old, in the Konoha flak jacket uniform, and the Allied Shinobi Forces forehead protector on his forehead, Akamaru, now 8 years old, Ino, in the Konoha flak jacket uniform, Shikamaru, in the Konoha flak jacket, now 17 years old, and Sakura, 17 years old and now had a blue rhombus on her forehead and in the flak jacket uniform, and wearing a red Allied Shinobi Forces forehead protector as a hair band, we're standing and crouching down as they had the Nine Tails' chakra on them.

Ino and Sakura were healing Shikamaru with their Mystical Palm Technique.

Ino stopped healing Shikamaru as she looked at the Hashirama clone. "Here!" she said.

Hashirama lowered his right arm as he looked at Ino. "Can you do the Mind Transmission Jutsu?!" he asked.

"Yes, I can, sir!" Ino said.

"Good! Please link me to everyone here! There are things I'd like to explain about the giant tree, and the Infinite Tsukuyomi!" Hashirama said said.

Ino walked over to Hashirama.

Obito, also known as Tobi, looked to be 31 years old, had the Rinnegan in his left eye socket and the Sharingan in his right eye socket, short, spiky, white hair, the entire right half of his body gains a scale-like pattern across it, replacing the scars, white skin, 2 horns sprouted from his forehead – the left smaller than the right – and 6 magatama markings appeared across his chest, 10 protrusions emerge from his back – 5 near his shoulders and five near his hips – to form the collar and coattails of a haori, as well as a black assortment of ten magatama markings appearing on his back; 1 large one, with a black Rinnegan-like pattern within it, and 9 smaller ones arranged in rows of three below it, and long black pants, was floating.

Obito raised his right arm. _"I'll retrieve a little more chakra. It's taking too long for it to bloom."_ he thought.

Karin immediately noticed the branches were starting to hover over some of the shinobi before she noticed that Sasuke was activating his Susano'o around her, Jugo, and himself. _"What's Sasuke going to do?"_ she thought as they started to fly towards one of the branches.

"That's right. Just stay like that. I'll take you to a world where there are no regrets." Obito said.

Naruto started to cry again.

Sasuke's Susano'o grabbed it's sword from his right holster with his left hand and sliced a large branch with both of his hands.

Everyone became surprised.

"Naruto, are you done? Because I'm not." Sasuke asked.

Karin looked at Naruto for a moment before she looked at Sasuke again.

Sasuke's Susano'o landed on the ground.

"Let's go, Jugo. Karin." Sasuke said.

"Yeah..." Jugo said.

"All right." Karin said.

Naruto stood up as he activated his Tailed Beast Mode and Sage Mode.

Everyone became shocked as they felt something strange.

 _"These are..."_ Sakura thought.

 _"I can feel them, these are Naruto's feelings... coming through my jutsu."_ Ino thought.

Karin reached out her left hand to feel the Nine Tails' chakra on Sasuke to see why was everyone so surprised before she felt the strange feeling. _"Oniisan's memories..."_ she thought.

Naruto started to remember some memories years ago. _"Back then... I knew I should've called out to him. I thought about it over and over afterwards."_ he thought.

 _"His thoughts are flowing in."_ Sakura thought.

Naruto started to remember failing the Academy and his parents and Karin cheering him up. "That's why..." he thought.

Naruto started to remember battling Sasuke a few times.

"It's from that day..." Kiba said.

Naruto started to remember the 3rd Hokage's funeral and Asuma's funeral, memories of Jiraiya and his gravesite. _"I..."_ he thought then started to remember the reanimated Nagato and Itachi, the death of Chiyo. _"I..."_ then he remembered the death of Neji. _"I don't want to regret anything. I never want to think 'I never want to think 'I should have...'!"_

"Naruto-kun..." Hinata said sadly.

Naruto started to think about his family, Minato, Kushina, Uzume, and Karin.

Minato, Kushina, and Karin made serious faces.

 _"And... I just can't make everything we've done..."_ Naruto thought as he jumped forward and activated his Tailed Beast Mode and stood on the right side of Sasuke's Susano'o. "Up to this point meaningless! he said then looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke! I'm coming too, dattebayo!"

Sasuke smirked for a moment.

"Naruto Uzumaki..." Obito said. _"Time and time again..."_ he thought.

Kushina started transferring some of her Tailed Beast Mode chakra to Naruto.

"Sorry to have to borrow more chakra." Yin Kurama said.

"No worries!" Yang Kurama said.

 _"Naruto, we're counting on you, dattebane!"_ Kushina thought then unactivated her Tailed Beast Mode.

"Hey, Sasuke... You realize that only Sage Jutsu works on him, right?!" Naruto asked.

"Don't compare me to you." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Jugo and noticed that he was activating his Curse Mark as it started to spread all over Sasuke's Susano'o. _"Woah...!"_ she thought.

"Suigetsu placed his left hand on his head as he looked at Sasuke's Susano'o. "Look, Orochimaru-sama... Isn't that... Sasuke's Curse Mark patterning?" he asked.

Karin looked at Sasuke again. _"The Curse Mark is supposed to have lost its power..."_ she thought.

"Sage Power is the source of Jugo's Curse Mark. And with Sasuke-kun, back when I experimented with injecting Jugo's chakra into him, he immediately unleashed the Curse Mark. So it's not surprising for Sasuke-kun's Susano'o to adapt to Jugo's chakra in similar fashion. In other words, you could call it a Sage Jutsu Susano'o." Orochimaru said.

 _"Sasuke Uchiha, huh? He shows the same potential that Madara once did... You Uchiha..."_ Tobirama thought.

 _"And Sasuke-kun... Unlike this 1 in the back, your power... Rather, unlike any of my experiments... your power is nothing like theirs... I can tell... From my lifelong research and the data I've gathered... my instincts tell me... that you'll one day be a shinobi who surpasses Madara!"_ Orochimaru thought.

Sasuke activated his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.

 _"And Naruto Uzumaki... You remind me so much of Elder Brother when he was young. He's a foolish brat who spouts idealisms at the top of their voices. And yet, everyone likes and wants to depend on you."_ Tobirama thought.

"Aim!" Sasuke said.

"Gotcha!" Naruto said.

Sasuke and Naruto headed forward.

"It'll be too late for regrets, you know. Not that there's going to be a future for either of you." Obito said then raised his left hand as he made a black staff and held it with his left hand then flew forward.

The Hashirama clone heard what some of the shinobi are saying before he remembered something decades ago.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"I'm looking forward to the battles we'll fight... up until the time I achieve my true dream." Madara said._

 _"What is your true dream? I thought everything we've aimed for is here in this village!" Hashirama asked._

 _"You just can't see it. What's even further ahead... dreams of the far future." Madara said then activated his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan._

 _"Then tell me about your dreams of the far future." Hashirama said._

 _"Dreams of the future..." Hashirama said._

 _Then the Hashirama clone started to remember the first Kage Summit._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

It's true that we've never gotten along in the past... But we each did what we did to protect our brethren and clans. There were, perhaps, times when we had no other choice. And now, today, even if our 5 Nation Treaty comes to be... I can't say how long it will last... or if we can even hold to it. But I have this dream, that sometime in the future... There will come a day when shinobi will collaborate, and help each other, with one heart, regardless of their affiliation. That is my... My dream of the future. I ask you to take the first step toward that dream today! So please, please, please, please... I beg you! All of my, our beloved children! Now is the time to take all the pain, the suffering, and frustration we shinobi have endured... and weave it into... Our true dream!" the Hashirama clone said.

From left to right, Gaara, Raikage, Lady Mizukage, Tsuchikage, and Tsunade, in their usual outfits but we're ripped up a little, were now standing in one of crowds of shinobi.

...

3 minutes later.

Sasuke and Naruto were flying after Obito as they were a few meters away from him. All of them stopped in the air.

Naruto started making a Tailed Beast Ball.

Sasuke looked at Naruto for a moment before he looked forward as he prepared to have his Susano'o fire an arrow.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke!" he said.

"I'll keep in sync with you!" Sasuke said.

Naruto looked forward as he and Sasuke fired their Susano'o arrow and Tailed Beast Ball at Obito.

Obito turned around and threw one of the truth seeking balls forward as it transformed into something flat and it collided with Sasuke and Naruto's attack, creating smoke.

Karin watched as she was astounded. _"Amazing... They're using very powerful attacks on him."_ she thought.

"Incredible..." Kiba said.

"What just happened?" Sai asked.

"Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun are attacking simultaneously." Hinata said.

"Did they succeed?" Shino asked.

"Everyone watched as the smoke cleared as Sasuke and Naruto landed on the ground.

"You better be prepared..." Obito said.

Naruto started to remember what he said earlier.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"I'll never let my comrades die!" Naruto said, yelling._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Sasuke and Naruto went after Obito again.

Shino, Kiba, Choji, Akamaru, Sai, Ino, Hinata, and Sakura noticed that the Nine Tails' chakra appeared on the unconscious Shikamaru again.

Sakura continued to heal Shikamaru with the Mystical Palm Technique as she was crouching down on the left side of Shikamaru while Choji was holding him from behind.

"This is...!" Sakura said then she looked up at the sky when she heard a boom sound. "Naruto!"

Sasuke and Naruto continued to battle Obito as a few explosions happened.

 _"Even as he's fighting, he's helping his comrades recover... Naruto! Just focus on what only you can do! Leave the healing to me!"_ Sakura thought.

"You don't understand, Sakura." Ino said then looked down at Sakura. "Naruto is doing this unconsciously."

Sakura looked up at Ino confused. "Huh?" she asked.

Ino turned towards Sakura, spreading her arms out a little bit. "His chakra is acting on its own, from his desire to help Shikamaru." she said then lowered her arms. "I can sense it clearly from my Mind Transmission Jutsu."

Shikamaru was now conscious as he slowly opened his eyes a little. _"Damn it, Naruto... You never change. You're always going overboard... Sticking your neck out for us... How far will you go...? All this time, you've never held back or compromised when it came to us. In front of you, I can't complain about what a drag things are..."_ he thought, thinking about Naruto and his father. "Sorry, Dad... Naruto doesn't want me... to join you just yet." he said.

Sakura looked down at Shikamaru. "Shikamaru, stop talking! I'm not letting you die! Naruto... rather, everybody needs you!" she said.

Shikamaru closed his eyes. _"Dad... I only found out later that Naruto gone through a ton of painful, bitter things on with his family. I don't ever want to him to go through that again, or at least that's how I feel... when I'm with him. I told you once, remember, Dad?"_ he thought.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"Someday, he's going to become a very important ninja to this village. When I'm with Naruto... he makes me want to follow him." Shikamaru said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

The Hashirama clone looked at Shikamaru.

 _"Unlike First-sama, that dumb Naruto doesn't have an adept brother... like Second-sama, to be his advisor. That's why... even more so... I need to stick around so that when he becomes the Hokage, I can stand next to that idiot."_ Shikamaru thought before he started to sit up. _"So I'm sorry, Dad... I can't join you just yet."_

Sakura stopped using her Mystical Palm Technique as she looked at Shikamaru concerned.

Shikamaru opened his right eye. "There's no one more qualified than me to be Naruto's advisor." he thought.

Choji smiled as he started to cry a little bit.

Tobirama smiled to himself.

Sakura smiled as she cried a little bit. _"Naruto, thank you... Your chakra and the power of your heart saved him!"_ she thought, some of her hair now covering some of her forehead.

Sai smiled and nodded. "Yes! He's rallied!" he said.

Ino smiled. "Thank you, Sakura." she said then looked up. "Thank you, Naruto." she thought.

Kiba and Akamaru smiled at Shikamaru.

"Don't overdo it, Shikamaru. You just might become my advisor instead!" Kiba said.

Akamaru whimpered.

"Don't worry, Akamaru. It's a Kage can have up to 3 advisors." Shino said.

Akamaru barked.

 _"I want to stay by Naruto-kun too. I'll have to work hard!"_ Hinata thought.

"Shikamaru!" Choji said then closed his eyes as he hugged Shikamaru.

Shikamaru closed his eyes.

Choji stopped hugging Shikamaru as they both opened their eyes again.

Tsunade suddenly appeared in front of Shikamaru and placed her right hand on Shikamaru's forehead.

Everyone became surprised.

Sakura placed her right fist near her chest. "Tsunade-sama!" she said.

Tsunade placed her left hand on Sakura's forehead as she smiled down at her. "You did well!" she said.

Sakura smiled.

When Tsunade was done heading Shikamaru, who stood up with Sakura and Choji, she took her hands off of their foreheads and walked over to Hashirama.

"Forgive me, Grandfather." Tsunade said then stepped a few feet away from the Hashirama clone.

"Tsuna, don't apologize. I dragged this mess into my grandchildren's era. My cowardice is to blame..." he said.

"But your heart and dreams have also been passed down." Tsunade said then looked up. "Even beyond your grandchildren's era... Yes, your... Will of Fire!"

"Hey!" Naruto yelled as he tried to hit Obito but he missed.

Obito flew away as Naruto went after him.

"Why you...!" Naruto said.

Hashirama looked up at the battle in the sky. "All right! Let's cut down this giant tree while he is distracted by his battle!" he said.

Everyone on the ground looked at the giant tree.

"No matter how large it may be, that tree is nothing compared to this very earth! And the great earth, this land is on our side!" Tsuchikage said.

"Right!" some of the shinobi yelled.

The Raikage started to remember his conversation with Naruto in the past.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"I'm begging you, dattebayo! I don't want us killing each other out of vengeance anymore!" Naruto said._

 _"A ninja does not bow his head so easily! A ninja values action and strength!" Raikage said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

 _"It seems those who become Hokage like prostrating themselves, but... As an act that relays one's heart, perhaps it can lead to strength and be meritorious too."_ Raikage thought. "Let's go, everyone!" he said.

"Okay! Double lariat time, bro! Yeah!" Killer B said, moving his arms around.

"Here we go!" some of the shinobi yelled.

"As a woman, I mustn't get a late start on battle... All right, everyone. Let's go!" Lady Mizukage said.

"Right!" some of the shinobi yelled.

Naruto threw another Tailed Beast Ball and Sasuke fired another arrow at Obito before they landed on the ground.

"Damn it!" Naruto said.

The smoke cleared to reveal that Obito blocked.

Sasuke and Naruto went after Obito again.

 _"Naruto... You truly become a necessary existence to this world... What the 2 of us had always wanted to be. And you will now save the entire world, Naruto!"_ Gaara thought. "Everyone, follow me!" he said.

"Let's go!" some of the shinobi yelled.

"Your past is filtering into me through the others. Naruto Uzumaki, you are uniting everyone right now. Your tempestuous life made you into who you are. And your way of life has given everyone's hearts hope!" the Hashirama clone said.

Everyone looked at the giant tree.

"Let us pursue hope! Onward!" the Hashirama clone said.

Everyone on the ground ran towards the giant tree.

"Let's cut down that giant tree!" the Hashirama clone said.

Shinobi were starting to cut the tree branches.

"Let's go too." Shikamaru said.

Choji looked at Shikamaru. "Are you okay though, Shikamaru?" he asked.

Shikamaru looked at Choji. "Yeah, I'm fully recovered." he said.

"But what if that tree Rob's us of our chakra again...?" Chohi asked.

"Now that we know, just have to be careful." Shikamaru said before he started running towards the tree.

Choji followed after Shikamaru.

"Kushina, I'm going to use the link between your chakra and Naruto's." Tobirama said, placing his right hand on Kushina's left shoulder. "I can't move simultaneously like Minato, but I'll still help you and Minato to protect them all with my Teleportation Jutsu."

"Orochimaru... Are you just going to spectate?" Hiruzen asked.

Orochimaru said at Hiruzen. "I have no interest in this war. However, this dream of Obito's would lead to the elimination of this, my precious laboratory... So I suppose I cannot support it." he said, looking forward as he smirked.

"Then lend me a hand." Hiruzen said.

"Fine then." Orochimaru said, raising his left hand as 3 large snakes came out of his left sleeve as it wrapped around some of the branches. "I'll partake in a bit of nostalgia..."

Hiruzen jumped up into the air as his staff has gotten longer before he cut the branches with both hands.

"And participate in some student and teacher teamwork!" Orochimaru said.

Obito looked forward as Sasuke and Naruto were following him. _"I'll shift to a more offensive form!"_ he thought.

Some of the shinobi stopped as some of the branches were looking like dragons.

"What is it?!" one of the shinobi asked.

"Do not panic!" one of the shinobi said.

"It's coming!" one of shinobi said.

Before the dragon branches could attack some of the shinobi were transported somewhere else.

"Huh?!" one of the shinobi asked.

"What?!" one of the shinobi asked.

 _"I'll use my Teleportation Jutsu to whisk anyone in danger away. So go forth without fear!"_ Tobirama thought.

"It's the voice of Second-sama!" Kiba said.

"We can give it our all. It's because..." Shino said.

"Still, don't get careless!" Kiba said.

From left to right, Sakura and Tsunade were standing together as they had their hands together.

"With 2 100 Healings adepts, we can likely summon one-tenth of Katsuyu's actual body here from Shikkotsu Woods! We'll mode Katsuyu into the Allied Force's entire footing, into a Healing Area where one can be restored just by standing on her. Ready, Sakura?" Tsunade asked.

"Yes!" Sakura asked.

Tsunade and Sakura activated the rhombuses on their foreheads.

Tsunade and Sakura crouched down as they placed their left hands on the ground.

"Summoning Jutsu!" Tsunade and Sakura yelled.

A large Katsuyu appeared in front of them.

Tsunade looked at Ino, who was behind them.

Ino closed her eyes as she held up her right index and middle fingers.

"Ino! Have you relayed that to everyone?" Tsunade asked.

Ino lowered her right arm as she opened her eyes. "Yes!" she said.

Katsuyu melted into a large puddle.

Obito landed on one of the branches as Sasuke's Susano'o was above him Sasuke's Susano'o had a blade in it's right hand and tried to strike Obito.

Obito moved out of the way as he flew away from Sasuke and Naruto's attack.

 _"Damn it! He really is fast...! But... I'm starting to sense him better and better!"_ Naruto thought.

Sasuke and Naruto pinpointed Obito's next location.

 _"Right there!"_ Sasuke and Naruto thought.

Sasuke and Naruto attacked Obito but Obito blocked the attacks with both arms and truth seeking balls.

"It's about time that you go to sleep." Obito said.

Sasuke, Naruto, Jugo, and Karin became surprised.

"I'll guide you into the dream. There's no time left!" Obito said before he grabbed Sasuke's Susano'o and Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode with both hands with the elements of the Truth Seeking balls.

Sasuke and Naruto struggled in pain as Karin watched in horror.

 _"What's gonna happen now...?!"_ Karin thought.

Obito quickly flew down as he took Sasuke, Naruto, Jugo, and Karin with him.

"What?!" Sasuke asked.

"Huh?!" Naruto asked.

Karin gritted her teeth. _"We're going hit the ground...!"_ she thought.

Sasuke looked at Karin before he used all of his strength to wrap his arms around her body.

 _"What is he doing?!"_ Karin thought confused.

Obito released Sasuke and Naruto as they fell to the ground, making a large and deep hole as the waves of wind blew most of Katsuyu's flesh and shinobi away.

Sasuke and Naruto unactivated their Susano'o and Tailed Beast Mode.

Hinata activated her Byakugan.

"What was that just now?!" Kiba asked.

"Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun are... But wait...!" Hinata said.

Karin opened her eyes to see that her head was buried in Sasuke's chest she lifted it up to see Sasuke had his eyes closed and his arms were still wrapped around her waist. She was on top of Sasuke but s barely was injured during the fall.

"Sasuke!" Karin said.

Sasuke opened his right eye as he looked up at Karin. "Are you alright, Karin?" he asked.

"Yes but I should be asking you that." Karin said.

"I'll be fine." Sasuke said, unwrapping his arms around Karin's waist.

Karin got off of Sasuke and crouched down on the ground before she looked around to see Jugo and Naruto crouching down before she stood up as well.

"Why do you get up?! And what are you fighting for? Is it for your comrades? Or is it for this world?" Obito asked.

Naruto panted as he still was using his Sage Mode.

Karin looked at Naruto for a moment before she looked back at Obito.

"Listen, friends will eventually betray you. And this world transforms love into hatred. You should know! In the past, the people of the village and Sasuke betrayed you. And your love for Jiraiya made you hate. You and I are the same. The cumulative weight of all your suffering will change you in time. And now, even more pain shall assault you. And you still insist that you will not change?!" Obito asked.

Karin walked over to Sasuke and held out her right hand for him to grab on to.

"You don't know when your friends will betrayed you again..." Obito said.

Sasuke grabbed Karin's right hand with his right hand before he slowly stood up from the ground. He released her right hand before they looked at Obito.

"Or if the Allied Forces might go back to fighting each other. And you don't even know if you can defeat me! There is no reason to keep on fighting for a world like this. In a few minutes, this world will be gone anyway. Why do you still fight?" Obito asked.

Jugo looked at Naruto.

Naruto stood up. "Because it's my Ninja Way." he said.

Jugo stood up from the ground.

"I never go back on my word. That's my Ninja Way." Naruto said.

"I thought I told you go to sleep!" Obito said.

Naruto activated his Tailed Beast Mode again.

Sasuke stepped towards Naruto on the left side and stopped.

"Let's settle this with our next more, Naruto!" Sasuke said.

"Right!" Naruto said.

Sasuke activated his Susano'o again.

Karin watched in amazement as Sasuke and Naruto were slowly combining their Tailed Beast Mode and Susano'o.

"We'll sleep tomorrow, dreaming of our own dreams!" Naruto said.

Jugo looked at Sasuke and Naruto carefully. _"The Susano'o is..."_ he thought.

Sasuke and Naruto completely combined their Susano'o and Tailed Beast together as Sasuke, Naruto, and Jugo and Karin went up in the air. Sasuke's Susano'o now covered Naruto's Tailed Beast like armour.

"That's..." Hashirama said.

Karin was a few feet behind Sasuke and Naruto as she watched with astonishment. _"Their working together a lot more..."_ she thought.

Naruto looked at Sasuke.

"I believe this is what Madara did once before." Sasuke said, remembering Hashirama's story.

Obito flew into the air as he used his Sword of Nunoboko in both of his hands. "Nothing you try now will change anything. Look above you..." he said then looked up. "What can you see through that that hole at the top? The moon... The time to enter the moonlit dream world nears. The gaping hole of hell that has opened will be filled by the moon's dreams... That time is finally here! This sword is the divine blade of the Sage of the 6 Paths... the Nunoboko. You can no longer defeat me. Strong emotions dwell within the blade. It's a sword of the soul. The Sage created the world with the blade."

"Hey... did you feel that... just now?" Kiba asked.

Shino looked at Kiba. "Yeah..." he said then looked forward and up.

Lee, now 19 years old and in his usual outfit, and Tenten, now 19 years old and in the Konoha flak jacket uniform and the Allied Shinobi Forces forehead protector on her foreheadd, were standing together from left to right as they looked up at the sky.

"Tenten, isn't it...?" Lee asked.

Tenten looked at Lee. "Yeah. Let's go, Lee!" she said.

"He's calling us." Shikamaru said.

Choji, Ino, and Hinata nodded.

"My desire will vanquish you all. No matter how much you resist, it's useless. The power of the Sage will stop you." Obito said.

"Sasuke... Let's focus everything on a single blow. I think we're gonna have a tiny window to strike. Don't miss it." Naruto said.

"Hmph." Sasuke said.

Karin heard a noise before she looked behind her to see 9 Rasengans forming on the Naruto's Tailed Beast Mode. _"That's new."_ she thought.

"And I will use this sword to obliterate this world!" Obito said.

Karin looked forward as Sasuke and Naruto's Armoured Tailed Beast Mode roared.

Obito looked up to see from left to right, Lee, Tenten, Sai, Choji, Shikamaru, Ino, Hinata, Shino, and Kiba were falling from the sky as they landed inside the 9 Tails. The 9 of them were now wearing Tailed Beast cloaks.

 _"I'm giving a Rasengan to each of you!" Naruto said. "Use it to blast through his shield, dattebayo!"_ Naruto thought.

 _"This, right?"_ Tenten thought, grabbing on to the Rasengan with both hands.

 _"Can I really do think?"_ Lee thought.

 _"You can!"_ Naruto thought.

Obito became surprised when the 9 of them pushed the 9 Rasengans out of the Armoured Tailed Beast Mode at him.

 _"Go get him, everyone!"_ Sakura thought.

Sasuke pushed his right hand forward and Naruto pushed his right hand forward. Sasuke's Susano'o sword strike Obito's sword with his right hand.

Obito's sword from his right hand broke but as another strike was about to happen, he imagined memories.

As Sasuke's Susano'o sword and Obito's sword in his left hand clashed, Obito's sword started to break.

 _"Why am I... seeing such images...?"_ Obito thought.

Obito released the sword from his left hand as Sasuke's Susano'o sword struck his stomach on the right side as they moved behind him. The 9 Tailed Beasts were coming out of his stomach from behind.

Naruto looked at Obito as Obito looked at Naruto.

"Just like we thought! The chakra you received from the Tailed Beasts earlier reacted to the Tailed Beast Chakra inside him and you were able to pull it all out in one shot!" Yin Kurama said.

"Yeah!" Naruto said.

"This wouldn't have worked if the Tailed Beasts hadn't taken a liking to you back then and shared their chakra with you." Yang Kurama said, remembering the Tailed Beasts and the Jirjurikis in the past.

"Naruto... You really are something special..." Yang Kurama said.

"Now!" Naruto said.

The 9 Armoured Tailed Beast tails transformed into the 7 Tailed Beasts faces as they connected.

"You know what to do next, right, Naruto? It's a tug-of-war! Just pull the Tailed Beasts' chakra right out of him!" Yang Kurama asked.

"Yeah!" Naruto said.

The 8th and 9th tails tried to connect with the 2 that look like the 8th 1st Tailed Beasts' but they were swatted away.

"Damn! I guess it won't work with 1 Tail and 8 Tails because we never got their chakra." Yang Kurama said.

Gaara appeared as he was riding on sand, he raised his hands. "One Tail used to be linked to me. I'll get him." he said.

Naruto looked at Gaara. "Gaara!" he said.

Gaara summoned his sand as he used it to grab the one that looks like the One Tail. _"Come here, Shukaku!"_ he thought.

Killer B also appeared as he landed on the ground, moving his arms around. "We finally found a weakness, that's the key! You can leave 8-o's chakra to me!" he said then 2 octopus legs came out of him before he wrapped them around the one that looks like the 8 Tails.

"Octopops!" Naruto said, smiling for a moment then stopped.

"Let's do this, Bee! Don't lose!" 8 Tails said.

Shikamaru, Lee, Shino, Kiba, Choji, Tenten, Ino, Sai, and Hinata on the ground as their Tailed Beasts' cloaks disappeared.

Sasuke and Naruto landed on the ground as they still continued to tug-of-war over to Tailed Beasts.

The 9 of them looked up as their Nine Tails' chakra appeared again.

"Extract them! Then the only power he'll have left is the 10 Tails' shell! And the Divine Tree's bud will not bloom!" Yang Kurama said.

Obito tried to pull the Tailed Beasts back.

The bud from the Divine Tree stopped moving as the tree branches stopped moving as well.

"They've stopped..." Hiruzen said, holding his staff with his right hand. _"Which means... he's lost control of the Divine Tree! In other words..."_ he thought.

 _"Everyone... Remember when I said that even a small power can be helpful depending on how it's used? Now is the time! That power will change the course of this world... Listen closely."_ Shikamaru thought as Ino placed her left hand on his forehead connected him to everyone.

As they continued to get the Tailed Beasts out, Naruto suddenly started to see Obito's memories when he was young. Naruto started to cry.

Karin looked at Naruto, sad and concerned. "Oniisan..." she thought.

"It's because your chakra is connected to his! His feelings will flow into you, but don't let them distract you!" Yin Kurama said.

"Don't underestimate the power of the 10 Tails' Jinchuriki. I'm equivalent to the Sage of the 6 Paths!" Obito said as he started pulling the 8 Tailed Beasts back in.

Sasuke reached his right hand forward as a right hand was made from Sasuke's Susano'o right shoulder before it grabbed on to the 8 Tailed Beasts.

Naruto and Karin looked at Sasuke.

"Just keep pulling, Naruto." Sasuke said.

Shikamaru, Sai, Shino, Lee, Kiba, Tenten, Ino, Choji, and Hinata jumped up into the air and on to the 9 Tails.

"Naruto! You're the one asked us to lend a hand! So we're helping out until the very end!" Kiba said.

Naruto and Karin looked at the 8 of them.

Naruto smiled. "Guys!" he said.

"And that's not all..." Shikamaru said, smiling.

Naruto looked up into the air to see some shinobi were falling from the sky before they landed on the ground.

Kushina held out both of her hands as she activated her Tailed Beast Mode. "Everyone! Grab on to my chakra!" she said then extended her left hand until it grabbed on to the 8 Tails.

Kushina landed on the 8 Tails before multiple arms came out of her back as it went over to shinobi as they grabbed on to them.

"All right! Everyone, we'll do it together on my mark, dattebayo!" Naruto said.

Obito became surprised.

"Pull!" Naruto said.

Everyone started pulling at the Tailed Beasts.

...

Border between Obito and Naruto's Subconscious.

Obito and Naruto were standing a few meters away from each other as they were in a light blue/grey star room.

Obito suddenly saw Naruto's friends, family, and other shinobi standing next to Naruto. He looked behind him to see no one standing behind him before he turned forward then he suddenly saw an image that would've been him replace Naruto.

 _"Are you saying... That I... I've got regrets...?!"_ Obito thought, imagining himself as Hokage.

"You once told me... 'I'm nobody.. 'I don't want to be anybody...'." Naruto said.

"Stop! Don't come into my thoughts!" Obito said.

Naruto for a moment. "But the truth is... You wanted to become the Hokage, just like me. It could have even ended up where I was chasing after your shadow... since I've always wanted to become the Hokage." he said.

"I threw away the past and my naive self! So don't tell me I'm-" Obito said but was cut off.

Naruto made a serious face. "Then why am I able to see this? You can't hide behind a mask." he asked. "You were Kakashi-Sensei's friend... My dad's subordinate... an Uchiha like Sasuke... and a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf who had the same dream as me."

"What... What exactly... do you want with me?!" Obito asked, pointing his left index finger at Naruto for a moment then lowered his left arm.

"To remind you that you are Obito Uchiha." Naruto said then pointed his left index finger at Obito. "I told you, didn't I? I swore I'd tear that mask right off your face!" then lowered his left arm.

"Obito Uchiha? What meaning is there in that name... in that existence, now?" Obito asked then closed his eyes. "I have merged with 10 Tails." then opened his eyes as he raised his left hand. "I have transcended and attained enlightenment. I am no longer human. I will guide mankind to the next stage. I possess the same will and body as the Sage of 6 Paths. I am the Second Sage of 6 Paths!"

"Wrong! You are Obito Uchiha!" Naruto said.

Obito became annoyed.

"When our chakra touched earlier, I saw your past. Our personal histories and our dream of becoming Hokage are the same. Almost exactly alike. Neither of us knew our parents. And we both lost people precious to us. Which is why you tried to scare me by saying solitude is my worst nightmare. In the beginning, you too wanted to be acknowledged and praised by others!" Naruto said.

Obito looked down.

"That's why you wanted to be Hokage... If you're the same as me, that is!" Naruto said.

Obito started to remember a memory of him and Rin when they were young.

"But look at you now! You've turned all shinobi into enemies and you go spouting some nonsense that you're doing it for the sake of the world... when you're only doing it for yourself! No one... not even those precious to you would ever acknowledge this current dream of yours." Naruto said.

Obito looked at Naruto.

"You used to have the same dream as me. But now you've become the exact opposite of a Hokage! It's because you're just like me that..." Naruto said.

"No, it's because of that... That I wanted to see you despair about this world. Or... I suppose I wanted to feel again for myself, that the path I have chosen for myself is not a mistake." then started walking to his left side as Naruto continued to watch Obito. "When I was fighting you, you made me recall my youth. That's why I started wanting to test you." Obito said.

Naruto became surprised.

"To see when you, someone who's just like me, would fall to despair..." Obito said then stopped walking. "and abandon your feelings, your past."

Naruto looked at Obito serious. "It's because we were so alike that I'm pissed off! You're just... abandoning everything and running away!" he said.

"No... What I'm doing is no different from a Hokage's actions." Obito said, looking at Naruto. "In fact, I'm doing even more... I can make peace a reality."

"Are you really serious? Do you really believe that?" Naruto asked.

Obito looked away from Naruto and closed his eyes as he remembered the same memory of him and Rin then closed his eyes and looked at Naruto again. "Yes... That's how I feel." he said then lowered his left arm. "There's no need to voluntarily tread a steep and rugged path, not knowing what's ahead." then looked away before he faced Naruto and looked at him. "You'll have to step over the corpses of your comrades." then raised his left hand. "Anyone would choose a shortcut with a fixed outcome. Yes." lowering his left arm. "The goal a Hokage should seek is world peace."

Naruto made his hands into fists. "What the hell are you talking about? What I want to know about isn't a shortcut... but how to navigate the steep and rugged path!" he questioned.

"Would you still say that if the final destination... were the same?" Obito asked.

"Who can tell in the beginning which one is the dangerous one?" Naruto asked then walked over to Obito. "You never know until someone starts walking. The Hokage is someone who endures the pain and takes the lead in front of everyone..." then stopped a few feet away from him. "So a Hokage never walks over his comrades' corpses. There is no shortcut to become the Hokage! And there are no ways out for the one who becomes Hokage! Isn't that right?"

Obito looked down at his right side as he started to remember some memories from his past then looked at Naruto again. He continued remembering old memories when he was young as he looked down at his left hand.

Naruto looked at Obito's left hand for a moment before he looked up at Obito again. "You... You told Kakashi-Sensei you woud throw away all your memories and feelings about your comrades. But when you became the 10 Tails' Jinchuriki and were about to be taken over by it... Didn't you try to suppress the 10 Tails because you didn't want that?" he asked.

Obito remembered something earlier.

"The reason why you beat the 10 Tails and could control it was because you stood firm on not throwing away the past and stayed yourself, right? You just couldn't throw out the memories of my dad, Kakashi-Sensei or this Rin person, could you?" Naruto asked then walked a little further to the left side of Obito and walked around him. "That's how you could stay Obito even after you became the 10 Tails' Jinchuriki. "Am I wrong?" then stopped on Obito's right side. "But dragging everyone with you onto your path and continuing on it won't be allowed! I'm bringing you back as Obito Uchiha... as a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf... and you're going to atone for your sins." then looked down. "You tried to run away from every single thing." then he started to remember what Obito said earlier.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"The only thing that awaits you... is your personal nightmare. Solitude! So why keep living in reality? Now come join us, Naruto!" Obito said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Naruto looked up at Obito. "I bet this Rin person would say this if she were still alive... 'Don't act tough and hide your wounds. I'm always watching.' You're no one else but you, damn it! Don't run away!" he said then held up his left hand to Obito. "Come join us... Obito!"

Obito looked at Naruto surprised for a moment before he closed his eyes and stepped towards Naruto as he reached his left hand out to grab Naruto's left hand but instead he grabbed Naruto's neck as he started choking him.

Naruto lowered his left arm as he grunted in pain.

Obito opened his eyes as he looked at Naruto, seriously. "I will never go over to your side! I have no regrets with my path up until now." he said.

"I told you I saw everything." Naruto said.

Obito became surprised again.

Naruto made a fist with his right hand and stepped forward. "So... don't... keep imagining yourself as Hokage!" he said then punched Obito in the face.

Obito released Naruto as he was pushed back a few feet then looked at Naruto again before he saw a younger version of himself.

"The person Rin wanted to watch over isn't the current you... It was Obito Uchiha." the young version of Obito said.

Obito became even more surprised when he now saw that he was in a field then saw Minato, in his old usual outfit with his arms crossed, and a 13 year old Kakashi, in his old usual outfit, a black T-shirt with white stripes in the middle of the sleeves, additional sleeves over his arms, metal arm protectors, brown leather straps around his back and chest, and long black pants, was standing next to him on the left side.

Young Kakashi placed his hands on his hips. "We're late again because of you... Obito." he said.

"Let's go, Obito." Minato said.

From left to right, Rin Nohara, a 12 year old girl that had fair skin, straight brown hair, which was cut in a chin-length bob that framed her face, brown eyes, a rectangular purple marking on either sides of her cheeks, in her usual outfit, a long-sleeved black top, black shorts, light purple apron-skirt, red stockings that stopped at her thighs, a small, red bracelet on her left wrist, a black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around her right thigh, and a blue clothed Konoha forehead protector wrapped around her forehead, and 13 year old Obito, in his old usual outfit, a long sleeved blue uniform, a blue jacket with an orange collar and trimmings, was fastened to the rest of the outfit by two buttons on the collar and had the Uchiha clan crest at the back, a white belt, shinobi sandals, the dark blue Konoha forehead protector wrapped around his forehead, a pair of goggles with orange lenses connected to ear protectors, blue sandals, a black shuriken holster and white tape wrapped around his right thigh, were running towards Minato and Kakashi.

"Sorry! We'll be right there." Rin said.

Obito looked behind him to see his younger self and Rin running together. "Rin..." he said as he watched them run past him then he became surprised.

"That's right... You ought to fill in that hole in your heart yourself..." the male voice said.

Obito looked behind him to see 3 clones of himself standing a few meters away.

"Others will be of no help." one of the clone Obito's said.

From left to right, the clones started turning into Rin, Kakashi, and Minato.

"So... come over here. I won't ignore you." the clone Rin said.

"Come..."the young clone Kakashi said.

"Come..." the clone Minato said.

Obito looked at them more. "Obito..." he said.

"Hold on, Rin!" the young Obito said.

Obito turned back around to see the young version of himself and Rin were standing together as they were a few meters away from Minato and young Kakashi.

Rin looked at the young Obito curiously.

Obito gasped when the young version of him and Rin looked at him.

The young Obito held out his right hand to Obito. "That's right... Rin won't even turn to look at the current you. The one Rin wanted to watch over is Obito Uchiha." he said.

Obito gasped again when the young version of him started walking towards him. "Enough already... I am..." he said before he was right in front of him and grabbed his left hand with his right hand before he pulled him. "Obito Uchiha!"

The fields disappeared and Minato, young Kakashi, and Rin disappeared as they were back between Obito and Naruto's subconscious and Obito turned into Naruto.

Naruto grabbed Obito's left hand with his right hand. "Now just come over, you bastard!" he said.

The people behind Naruto appeared again.

"Everyone's power..." Naruto said then pulled Obito forward.

Border between Obito and Naruto's Subconscious Ends.

...

Everyone continued pulling at the Tailed Beasts.

Naruto thought of everyone who were pulling at the Tailed Beasts. After a few moments later, the 8 Tailed Beasts were finally released from Obito.

"Don't you dare underestimate it, dattebayo!" Naruto said then smiled. "They're out!"

Some of the shinobi fell on the ground as they were cheering.

Obito became surprised as he fell backwards.

The 8 Tailed Beasts appeared in their original form as they stood up on the ground again.

Sasuke and Naruto were panting as they looked at the 8 Tailed Beasts.

Obito closed his eyes and went to his original look except that his hair remain grey and still had black pants. _"Did I... lose?"_ he thought then ground on his back.

Sasuke and Naruto unactivated their Susano'o and Tailed Beast Mode as Sasuke, Naruto, Jugo, and Karin landed on the ground as they looked at Obito then stopped panting.

Obito opened his eyes as he looks up at the moon as he started to remember some memories that he did earlier.

 _..._

 _Flashbacks._

 _"The gaping hole of a hell that has opened will be filled by the moon's dreams..." Obito said._

 _..._

 _"There's nothing in my heart! I don't even feel pain anymore. Don't feel so guilty, Kakashi. This hole was opened by this hellish world." Obito said._

 _"Do you really think that something like this can fill that hole in your heart?!" Kakashi asked. "Don't erase the memories of the real Rin! Rin sacrificed herself to protect and save the village! You can try and fill that hole with delusions all by yourself... But that hole will never be filled! The hole in one's heart gets filled by others around you."_

 _Flashbacks Ends._

 _..._

Obito lifted his left hand up so he can see as he remembered a memory of him and Rin for a moments. "Rin..." he said.

Karin watched as Sasuke and Naruto smiled at each other for a moment then made serious faces.

The 4 Tails looked at Naruto. "You kept your promise, Naruto Uzumaki!' he said.

"That's why I want to save you too..." Naruto said.

"And you really rescued us!" the 4 Tails said.

Karin looked at Sasuke curiously.

"Right, Son!" Naruto said.

8 Tails smiled.

"We were lucky." the 7 Tails said.

"He did it."the 6 Tails said.

"For real." the 5 Tails said.

"You're right." the 2 Tails said.

"I'm so glad!" the 3 Tails said.

"Isn't he...?" the 1 Tails asked, remembering Gaara and Naruto's fight more than 3 years ago.

Naruto and Karin watched as Sasuke quickly ran towards Obito.

Sasuke took out his sword with his right hand.

Naruto held out his right hand. "H-Hey!" he said then ran after Sasuke. "Wait, Sasuke!"

Obito looked at Sasuke, who was running towards him with his sword in his right hand, and Naruto. _"Right... I've lost..."_ he thought.

Suddenly a swirling air appeared before Sasuke and Naruto stopped to see Kakashi appeared as he pinned Obito down with a kunai in his right hand.

"Kakashi!" Sasuke said.

"Sasuke, we'll talk later. I apologize for appearing so suddenly... But I was once his classmate and friend... So please let me take responsibility for him." he said then prepared to kill Obito with the kunai.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto said. "He's now-"

Kakashi was about to kill Obito until Minato appeared and grabbed Kakashi's right hand with his left hand to prevent it.

Sasuke and Naruto became surprised.

"Dad!" Naruto said.

Karin became annoyed when some of the shinobi yelled for Kakashi to finish Obito off. "Idiots!" she thought.

Tsunade held out her arms. "Hold it!" she said.

"Obito... When we had that chakra tug-of-war just now, I got to see inside your heart. It seems like my son nagged and lectured you quite a bit. I think he might have gotten that from Kushina." Minato said.

"Dad..." Naruto said.

Minato looked at Kakashi. "But that duty actually falls... on you. I think the one who truly understands Obito and should talk to him... is you, his friend... Kakashi." then he looked at Naruto. "Isn't that right, Naruto?" he asked.

Naruto looked at Sasuke.

"Naruto, you 2 should and the Allied Forces should go and help First-sama, and seal Madara away." Minato said.

"Oh, right! We still need to deal with him!" Naruto said then turned around and ran away. "Let's go, Sasuke!"

Sasuke looked at Naruto run before he ran after him.

Karin watched as Sasuke and Naruto ran past her before she ran after them. She glanced back at Minato, Kakashi, and Obito one last time before she looked forward.

"I think you were younger than Naruto is now." Minato said then looked down at Obito. "Do you remember? All the missions that the 4 of us went on? As a Medical Ninja, Rin did her utmost to protect you 2. She would never have wished for a situation like this."

Kakashi lowered his kunai as Minato released Kakashi's right hand.

"But what caused this is my responsibility." Minato said then started to remember some memories from the past.

"Rin... Rin was my only light and hope. After I lost Rin... The world as I saw it, changed. It became a pitch black hell. There's no hope in this world. I took Madara's identity and walked the world. But all it was confirm my belief. Even with my Sharingan, I couldn't see anything... There was nothing to see." Obito said.

"I don't know anything for sure either..." Kakashi said.

Obito became surprised. "Then... my new path is-!" he said.

"Without a doubt, your path is just one of many. And it may not actually be wrong either. I've thought this world was hell too. I thought that you had died... And right after that, I lost Rin... And I lost Minato-Sensei as well. But..." then he remembered something in the past. "Even though I don't know anything for sure... I tried my best to see the world with this eye. I felt that as long as I had your Sharingan and words..." Kakashi said.

"And what you saw is Naruto? How can you be sure his path won't fail?" Obito asked.

Kakashi stood up and stepped on the left side of Obito. "No... He may very well fail too. Of course." he said.

Obito became surprised. "How is Naruto different from me? Why do you go so far for him?" he asked.

"Because I can say without hesitation that he is less likely to fail than the current you." Kakashi said.

"Why is that?!" Obito asked.

"Because if he trips and stumbles on his path... I'll help him." Kakashi said.

Minato looked at Kakashi.

"Why would you help him?" Obito asked.

Kakashi looked down at Obito before he looked up to the left side at the sky. "He would never give up on his dreams... or on reality. That's the kind of guy he is. And the way he forges ahead draws others towards him. He makes you want to reach out when he's about to stumble. And the greater the support behind you, the closer you can get to your goal. That's the difference." he said.

Obito looked up at the moon again before a cloud covered it. "Do you really believe such a thing is possible in this pitch-black hell?" he asked.

"I'm sure you could've seen it too, if you had tried. After all, you and I have the same eyes. If comrades that you trust, gather around you... hope can take physical form and become visible. That's what I believe... Obito." Kakashi said.

Naruto jumped up the giant tree and stood on top of the bud as he activated his Sage Mode and started looking for Madara then he spotted a dust cloud below. "Found him!" he said then put his hands together and made 2 Shadow Clones and the 3 of them held up their arms as they started to make a giant Rasengan. "Massive Rasen Shuriken! Bigger! We'll go with something even bigger! Right!" they said.

Most of shinobi started running towards Madara's location.

 _"Naruto's path..."_ Obito thought.

Naruto's 2 clones disappeared.

"Take this! Massive Rasen Shuriken!" Naruto said then threw it at Madara's location with his right hand.

"Perhaps..." Obito said.

Minato and Kakashi became surprised.

Madara couldn't move as he was binded by Hashirama's Wooden Dragon.

Hashirama crouched down a few meters away from Madara. "That Wood Dragon will absorb your chakra! Your chakra-stealing ninjutsu has now been nullified! In other words, you can't move nor will you be able to extract chakra with your next ninjutsu!" he said.

Madara and Hashirama looked up at the sky to see Naruto's Massive Rasen Shuriken was coming towards them.

Hashirama jumped backwards so he wouldn't get hit. _"Good timing, son of the Fourth!"_ he thought, having 6 black rods embedded in his back. _"Let's get him with this and seal him away!"_ The Massive Rasen Shuriken hit Madara.

Sai, who was flying on a giant ink bird, landed on the bud on the left side of Naruto. "Naruto, this way!" he said.

Naruto looked at Sai.

"Let's go!" Sai said.

"Thanks, Sai!" Naruto said then jumped on the ink bird next to Sai before they flew away.

"Without any orders... without a single word... Everyone is galvanized into action... Naruto..." Gaara said then closed his eyes, smiling. "And I'm one of them..." then turned to the right side see the 1 Tail. "Shukaku... I'd like to borrow the power of your Sand to seal Madara."

"You mean, the Grand Sand Mausoleum?" Shukaku asked.

"That's right... A giant one too." Gaara said.

Shukaku laughed for a moment. "I'm not bound to a Jinchuriki anymore. What makes you think I'd listen to you after all this time?" he questioned.

"I'm not ordering you. I'm asking you. If you refuse, fine. I'll just ask one of the others." Gaara said.

Shukaku looked up at Gaara, who was crouching down on a flat sheet. "Naruto Uzumaki, huh? Seems you've become friends with that Fox Demon's brat, Gaara..." he asked.

"If you're not going to help, let's talk later. I'm going." Gaara said.

"That tone you're using ticks me off!" Shukaku said.

Gaara looked at Shukaku.

"As they say, if a fox has 7 tricks, a tanuki has 8! And I, the Demon Tanuki, will not lose to a stupid fox!" Shukaku said.

Gaara became confused.

"I'm not doing this because you asked! I'm doing this because I want to! Lead the way." Shukaku said.

Gaara smiled. "It's this way." he said then looked forward.

Shukaku moved forward. "Now then..." he said.

"Wait up." the 4 Tails said.

Shukaku and Gaara stopped moving before they looked at the 4 Tails. "Huh?" they asked.

"We'll help too." the 4 Tails said then he remembered what Naruto said to him earlier. "Don't worry. We're not doing this on a whim. We want to help Naruto."

Gaara turned to the 4 Tails then bowed to him. "I'm grateful." he said then stopped bowing.

"Sand Shinobi human, are you a friend of Naruto too?" the 4 Tails asked.

Gaara started to remember some memories from his past.

"What's wrong?" the 4 Tails asked. "I asked if you are Naruto's friend?"

"Yeah... He's my first friend." Gaara said.

"Is that right?" the 4 Tails asked.

Gaara nodded. "All right, let's hurry." he said then he turned as they started heading to Madara's location.

...

Jugo and Karin stopped near Orochimaru and Suigetsu as Karin watched Sasuke fly forward as he was flying on a ink bird. _"Good luck out there!"_ she thought.

...

Hashirama put his hands together. "Sage Art: Gracious Deity Gates!" he said.

3 large red gates came from the sky and landed on Madara.

"Naruto's jutsu didn't bring him down, but with this, he won't be able to move at all!" Hashirama thought, separating his hands as he lowered his arms, looking at the dust cloud. "All that's left is to wait for the Sealing Shinobi."

The dust cloud disappeared to reveal Madara crouching down with his head down as 3 large gates were on top of his back.

Madara smirked to himself.

...

Obito started to pant then closed his eyes as he coughed.

Minato and Kakashi looked down at Obito, worried.

"Having the Tailed Beasts extracted from him means that Obito's..." Minato said then looked at Kakashi.

Kushina suddenly arrived as she jumped on the right side of Minato. "No you're wrong." she said, placing her left hand on Minato's right shoulder.

"The 10 Tails' Jinchuriki aren't like all the others. They won't die if the Tailed Beast is extracted. It because the 10 Tails' husk, the Gedo Statue remains. It contains a lot of life force." the Yin Kurama said through Kushina.

"Is that true? How do you know?" Minato asked, looking at Kushina.

"Hey, now. Who you think scattered us all across the world after splitting the 10 Tails' Chakra into 9 pieces?" Yin Kurama asked.

Minato and became surprised.

"The Sage of 6 Paths..." Minato said.

"But with 9 bodies extracted out of him all at once, he'll be so weak it will be like he's dead. He won't be able to move for a few months. Just as it was for the old man back then." Yin Kurama said.

"So that's how it goes." Minato said then looked at Kakashi. "Kakashi... the Tailed Beast inside Kushina just explained to us..."

Kushina took her left hand off of Minato's right shoulder.

Obito started to remember his inner past.

"So you don't have to worry." Minato said.

Kakashi looked down at Obito. "Then... his life is... I was hoping he would atone for all his past deeds, but... It can't be helped if you can't move." he said.

Obito stopped panting.

"Just stay put." Kakashi said then looked at Minato and Kushina. "Sensei, Kushina, please keep an eye on Obito." then walked over to right side.

"All right." Minato said.

"Okay." Kushina said.

Minato and Kushina looked to see Obito's slowly putting his hands together.

"What are you trying to do?" Minato asked.

Kakashi stopped walking as he turned to Obito.

Minato crouched down beside Obito.

"The same thing the man I once tried to use... did to betray me." Obito said, remembering Nagato.

"No way..." Kakashi said.

"I never imagined I'd end up doing the same thing... It's the Gedo... Art of Rinne Rebirth." Obito said.

"But that jutsu will result in your...!" Kakashi said then remembered the end of Pain's Attack.

Minato stood up. _"It seems to be a jutsu that trades life for life."_ he thought.

"I feel like I finally understand why Nagato... betrayed me back then. A string of hearts linked together like prayer beads... That can be a strong power as well, huh... Nagato and Naruto were both Jiraiya's students. So you could say Jiraiya defeated me." then looked at Minato. "Sensei... He was also your master, the one who groomed you to become the Hokage... And I... was your student." then looked forward. "A shinobi who gave up on becoming Hokage... and cut all his ties." then looked at Kakashi. "I won't have much to say to Rin on the other side."

"Are you sure about this?" Kakashi asked.

"You could live and atone for your sins... Kakashi said.

"No... That's the easy way out." Obito said then closed his eyes.

Suddenly a black right hand came out of the ground near Obito and slithered before the right hand placed itself on Obito's chest.

Minato, Kushina, and Kakashi became surprised.

The right hand started digging it's fingers into Obito's chest.

Obito opened his eyes as he turned his head to the left side, gritting his teeth silently.

"I'll help you out this time!" Black Zetsu said, his head coming out of the ground on the left side of Obito.

...

Madara smirked even more. "Time to switch places! It's now my turn to attack!" he said.

"Stop acting tough! This war is over!" Hashirama said.

Sai and Naruto, who were still on Sai's ink bird, jumped off and landed on the ground as Sai had a large red and being in his right arm.

"Sai!" Naruto said.

Sai unfolded the scroll. "I know!" he said, laying the ground as a ink tiger drawing was on it. He put his hands together. "Sealing Jutsu! Crouched Tiger Bullet!" the tiger drawing jumped out of the scroll and towards Madara.

"Naruto... I'm grateful to you. You even extracted the Tailed Beasts from Obito... Saving me the whole trouble of weakening him." Madara said.

"Sorry, Obito..." Black Zetsu said, covering Obito's body. "This is the reason why I stuck on to you."

"Black Zetsu! W-What the-?!" Obito questioned.

The Ink Tiger bit Madara's left shoulder.

"Okay! Just a little bit longer!" Sai said.

"Art of Rinne Rebirth!" Madara and Obito said.

Madara's body steamed a little bit as he was alive again. "Finally, I can fight for real!" he said then used the Fire Style: Art of Hiding in Ash.

Madara looked down at his left hand as he felt his heart beating.

Black Zetsu uncovered Obito's face, who closed his eyes and panted for air.

The 3 gates were gone as Madara stood up.

"This is the form, the body I needed!" Madara said, placing his left hand on his chest armour. "It's not a battle without raging blood... and a pounding heart!" then he stopped smirking when he noticed his eyes crumbling away before he closed his sockets.

Madara suddenly felt the Amaterasu on his back.

Hashirama, Sai, and Naruto became surprised.

Madara looked behind himself to see Sasuke in the air riding on a ink bird as he had his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan on.

"Ancient relics... should just butt out!" Sasuke said, his left eye starting to bleed.

"A brat who doesn't even come close to my level. You stole my line." Madara said.

 _"Why did he close his eyes?"_ Hashirama thought.

"Sasuke! It's pointless to just throw attacks at him, dattebayo." Naruto said. "This guy can absorb ninjutsu!"

Madara's upper clothes disappeared as his armour fell on the ground as it was covered in the Amaterasu.

Hashirama became surprised when he saw a face on Madara's chest.

"It is these 2 polar opposites operating together that gives rise to all things in this universe... Hashirama, do you remember me telling you this long ago in front of the Uchiha Stone Tablet?" Madara asked. "That the inscription on the stone says, when 2 opposite sides cooperate, you have true happiness. But I also told you it could be interpreted differently."

"That's..." Hashirama said.

"The one who obtains both Uchiha and Senju powers can attain true happiness. Do you think it could be read that way as well?" Madara asked. "Hashirama?"

"It seems you've been doing a lot of plotting since you left the village." Hashirama said.

"No... Actually, this is something my subordinate's comrades came up with by coincidence. Seems there was a fellow who thought a lot like me." Madara said then raised his left arm to his mouth and bit himself and pulled his left arm away as it started to bleed. "However... Me coming back to life was exactly as planned!"

Hashirama, Sai, and Naruto looked at Madara surprised.

Madara put his hands together.

Hashirama felt that he couldn't move anymore as he he was crouching down. _"Damn it... I can't move!"_ he thought.

Madara pulled his hands apart before he quickly went to the Sai and Naruto then kicked them with his left leg, making them fly backwards in pain. Madara quickly stood in front of Hashirama and grabbed his neck with his left hand.

Hashirama closed his eyes as he groaned in pain.

Madara started stealing chakra from Hashirama. "Though things did happen out of order. Oh well." he said then the face on his chest now had Sage Mode.

Hashirama didn't moan in pain anymore as his eyes were barely open and his face was cracking a little bit.

"So this is Sage Art Chakra... Is that all there is to it? Seems like this will be easy to control." Madara asked then released Hashirama.

Sasuke jumped off of the ink bird and landed on the ground and took his sword out of it's holster with his right hand before he ran towards Madara then tried to attack him with his sword but Madara moved away as he dodged. Sasuke went after Madara again as he continuously swing his sword at him as Madara continued to dodge them.

"This is the perfect chance now that you're flesh and blood. This time I'll kill you for good, and send you back to the afterlife! Regret that you're still not a Reanimation..." Sasuke said then held his sword with both hands, running towards Madara. "As you go to your death!"

Madara stood on the ground as he stopped dodging and Sasuke stabbed him through his arms. Madara grabbed Sasuke's sword with both hands.

"I can feel it... Your Mangekyo are Choku Tomoe, a straight pattern. No wonder you have fine moves. It might be a good idea to take your eyes until I get my Rinnegan back." Madara said.

...

"Obito... Your usefulness is over." Black Zetsu said.

Obito panted in exhaustion.

"What did you do?" Kakashi asked.

"Madara... has come back to life!" Obito said.

Minato, Kushina, and Kakashi were now surprised.

Black Zetsu released Obito before he stood up. "You performed the Rinne Rebirth, so you will die. This is the last step." he said then he started reaching for Obito's Rinnegan with his right hand. "I'm taking back that left eye."

Minato, Kushina, and Kakashi quickly ran towards Obito.

Black Zetsu stopped reaching for Obito's Rinnegan as he merged with the left side of Obito's body.

Minato, Kushina, and Kakashi stopped running and stopped.

Black Zetsu and Obito started to get up.

"He'll last a little longer while I'm attached to him." Black Zetsu said.

"Just what are you, dattebane?!" Kushina asked.

"You're not even human." Minato said.

Black Zetsu and Obito fully stood up.

"I am Madara's will incarnate. I will eliminate anyone who gets in Madara's way." Black Zetsu said.

"Black Zetsu. I thought you'd been captured..." Kakashi said.

"All of you, including Obito, greatly underestimated Madara's plan. You underestimated me as well." Black Zetsu said then remembered the past. "He's a useless traitor who went against Madara's plan. Until Obito dies, I'll use his body to fight you. I've got to get some use out of him, at least at the end."

...

"But killing you would be such a waste with an eye like that. How about it? You're a survivor of the Uchiha like me. Want to join forces?" Madara asked.

"Make no mistake. You're a dead man." Sasuke said.

"Fine then... In any case, you don't have much time left." Madara said then closed his mouth. _"Fire Style: Hiding in Ash Jutsu!"_ he thought then gray smoke appeared.

Sai and Naruto ran over to Madara and Sasuke but they stopped when the smoke appeared.

The smoke disappeared again as they noticed that Madara wasn't there anymore.

 _"Madara is regaining his past strength. Not good. His next target is..."_ Hashirama thought then looked behind him on the right side side.

A large explosion happened as some shinobi laid on the and groaned in pain.

Madara stood up as his left foot was standing the back of an unconscious shinobi. Madara's wounds started to heal.

"Ill be taking you all next... you filthy beasts!" Madara said, sensing the Tailed Beasts up ahead.

Some of the shinobi started talking.

C, in his usual outfit and the black Allied Shinobi Forces forehead protector wrapped around his forehead, moved his left arm. "Get away from here!" he said.

The shinobi from the area, including C, jumped away from the area. Gaara only remaining.

Madara jumped towards the Tailed Beasts.

Gaara grabbed his left hand with his right hand. "Shukaku get ready!" he said.

Sand formed around the air.

Shukaku put his hands together. "Let's go wild!" he said then his body expanded. _"Wind Style... Sand Bomb! Salvo!"_ he thought then he exhaled the air at Madara with his mouth.

Madara covered his face with his arms as he was pushed back in the air. "Nice jutsu." he said then uncovered his face. "But it lacks in finishing power..." coming forward again.

Gaara yelled for a moment as he gripped his left hand more.

Madara felt that he couldn't move as he felt the small holes in his arms and chest as they were embedded with sand. "So you implanted your sand with this jutsu to stifle movement..." he said.

The 2 Tails moved forward before she hit Madara with her right paw, making Madara fly backwards in the air again.

The 3 Tails rolled forward as he hit Madara, making Madara move forward.

The 4 Tails jumped up in the air and kicked Madara with his left foot, making Madara fly into another direction.

The 5 Tails head-butted Madara, who was high in the air.

The 7 Tails flew in the air and hit Madara, who landed in the slim covered ground that the 6 Tails made.

"Now, Shukaku!" Gaara said.

Shukaku extended both of his hands as he made a curse mark pyramid on top of Madara.

 _"Grand Sand Mausoleum Seal!"_ Gaara thought.

"It's a Mausoleum Seal that uses my sand and curse mark pattern!" Shukaku said.

Some of the shinobi far away started talking again.

"Did it work?!" C asked.

"He'll never take another breath of fresh air again!" Shukaku said then laughed for a moment.

Suddenly the pyramid broke as the Tailed Beasts and Gaara watched in surprise as Madara activated his Susano'o and jumped away as he landed a few meters away from the Tailed Beasts and Gaara as it has a sword in one of it's left hands.

"The Susano'o, huh!" Gaara said.

"I'll be putting collars on all of you shortly. Not one of you will be able to get away." Madara said.

Naruto, in his Sage Mode and Tailed Beast Mode, suddenly appeared. "I won't let you!" he said then hit Madara's Susano'o from behind, who fell on the ground.

"No one here's going to wag his tail for you!" Yang Kurama said.

8 Tails appeared as he started running with the Tailed Beasts towards Madara.

"Sorry we're late! We were moving the injured." 8 Tails said.

"Don't worry! There won't be any more wounded. We're ending this now!" the 2 Tails said.

"Stack tails!" Yin Kurama said.

"Right!" the Tailed Beasts said.

All of the Tailed Beasts hit Madara with their tails.

"You were close, you damned raccoon!" Yang Kurama said.

"Hmph. Quit ordering us around, you dumb fox!" Shukaku said.

"But this should..." the 2 Tails said.

The Tailed Beasts, Madara, and Gaara became surprised when appeared from the dust as he stood a few meters away from them as he doesn't have half of his right arm.

"Persistent bastard!" the 3 Tails said.

"But he's already taken a beating." the 2 Tails said.

Naruto put his hands together for a moment. "All right! One more blast!" Naruto said.

"Yeah, let's go, Naruto!" Gaara said.

A White Zetsu clone suddenly appeared from the ground on the left side of Madara.

"Sorry I'm late, Madara-sama." White Zetsu clone said.

"You're finally here." Madara said.

"Hey, that's Zetsu or whatever he's called." Naruto said.

"Reinforcements? Just one?" Gaara asked.

"What's he doin' here now? It's it kinda late?" Killer B asked.

"Do you have it?" Madara asked.

The White Zetsu clone held out his right arm as he had the a Rinnegan in it. "Of course." he said.

Madara sliced off White Zetsu clone's right arm with his left hand and grabbed it before he stuck it to his cut off right arm. Madara put the Rinnegan in his right eye socket and opened his right eye. "This should make things a little more fun..." he said then looked down at his left arm to see that it was bleeding before he brought it to his mouth and licked some of it. _"This taste of blood... this pain!"_ he thought then lowered his left arm. "This is my body!" he laughed. _"Finally... I can fully savor battle again!"_ then stopped laughing. Madara put some blood on his new right hand with his left hand.

Yin Kurama suddenly felt something.

Naruto looked up at Yang Kurama. "What's wrong, Kurama?" he asked.

"His blood... It's bringing back some really bad memories." Yang Kurama said.

"Blood?" Naruto asked.

"This repulsive blood that summoned me long ago." Yang Kurama said.

"Hey, you dumb fox! Don't get scared and stick your tail between your legs!" Shukaku said.

"I wouldn't underestimate him if I were you..." Yang Kurama said.

"Hmph! This isn't like you! It's rubbing me the wrong way!" Shukaku said.

Madara crouched down as he placed his right hand on the ground. "Summoning Jutsu!" he said.

Obito started to feel weaker.

"Obito!" Kakashi said.

The Gedo Statue suddenly came out of Obito's body.

Minato, Kushina, and Kakashi looked up at the Gedo Statue.

"He's gonna fight us using that?" Minato asked then looked at Kushina and Kakashi for a moment. "Kushina, Kakashi. Can you 2 manage?"

"Hai." Kushina said.

"Yes, in one way or another..." Kakashi said.

Kakashi activated the Mangekyo Sharingan in his left eye socket. "Kamui!" he said.

A small void sucked the Gedo Statue's right arm before it disappeared.

Kakashi stopped using Kamui as he panted.

Minato and Kushina looked at Kakashi.

"Did it work?" Minato asked.

"I think... it failed..." Kakashi said.

...

The Gedo Statue suddenly appeared near Madara and White Zetsu Army clone.

The Tailed Beasts, Naruto, and Gaara became surprised.

"Not that thing again!" Naruto said.

The Gedo Statue's right arm started to leak fluid.

"Seems the right arm's been wretched off." Madara said, looking at it. ""Seems there's someone left with good eyes on the other side." then looked forward. "Well, it's not much of an impediment. And now, I've got a pen for them. All I need to do is shove them in there."

"A fake Rinnegan from a reanimation can summon that thing?" the 4 Tails asked.

"He's bleeding and wounded. In other words, he's not a reanimation anymore. He possesses a real Rinnegan." the 2 Tails said.

"How did he come back to life?!" the 7 Tails asked.

Naruto started to remember some memories from the past. "Don't tell me with Obito's Rinne Rebirth..." he said then remembered more memories. "Then Obito's...!"

...

Black Zetsu and Obito were crouching down as Black Zetsu started reaching for Obito's Rinnegan with Obito's left hand but something stopped him.

"Obito... He's fighting to prevent his Rinnegan from falling into Madara's hands." Minato said.

"You're stubborn, for someone near death. This left eye came to you through Nagato, but it's time for it to return it to it's rightful owner. The only ones who have awakened the Rinnegan in this world are the Sage of 6 Paths and Madara Uchiha. It's not a mere thing to be hoarded by the likes of you." Black Zetsu said.

"I've hidden the right eye... And I'm going to have Kakashi destroy the left eye right now." Obito said.

Kakashi raised his kunai.

Black Zetsu laughed for a moment. "White Zetsu found the right eye a while ago and turned it over to Madara-sama." he said.

Obito gritted his teeth.

"You're a useless fool who refuses to die... So stop resisting. You'd be dead already if I wasn't sticking to you." Black Zetsu said.

"Then detach from me and take the Rinnegan after I die." Obito said.

"The instant I detach from you, these 3 will kill me. Before I can take the Rinnegan. Have you forgotten that I was the one who gathered intel for Akatsuki?" Black Zetsu asked. "I've already analyzed these 3 and their strength."

...

"It's going to take a bit longer for the left eye." Madara said.

"Seems like it. This also looks like it's going to take a bit longer too." White Zetsu Army clone said.

Madara's wounds healed. "Don't compare me to that brat who took years to get back those pets." he said.

"You're covered in blood." White Zetsu Army clone said.

"Knowing that I possess Hashirama's healing powers might cause me to fight crudely." Madara said.

"Let's go, dattebayo!" Naruto said.

"Wait. We don't know how he's planning to attack." Yang Kurama said.

"The Gedo Statue, huh..." the 8 Tails said.

"I'll proceed more carefully. If I use the Rinnegan's true powers, we should see a more sophisticated battle. It will only be a few seconds. So watch closely!" Madara said then jumped on the Gedo Statue's head and crouched down and placed his right hand on the Gedo Statue's head, closing his eyes. _"Limbo..."_ he thought then opened his right eye. _"Hengoku!"_

"He might try something... So be careful..." the 2 Tails said.

All of the Tailed Beasts were suddenly knocked down to the ground.

Gaara was pushed back a bit. "What is this? What just happened?!" he thought.

"Damn you..." Naruto said.

Some of the shinobi from far away started talking again.

"Was it Madara's jutsu?!" C questioned.

Some of Tailed Beasts groaned in pain.

Madara stood up. "That ought to have tamed you a bit." he said then put his hands together. "Now I can put on your collars!"

Gaara became surprised when the Gedo Statue's mouth opened as a purple bright light appeared from it.

Gaara looked down at Shukaku. "Something's coming!" he said.

9 Chains came out of the Gedo Statue's mouth and wrapped them around the Tailed Beasts' neck.

"Eight-o!" Killer B said.

"Kurama!" Naruto said.

"First, I'll rip the 8 and 9 Tails from their Jinchuriki!" Madara said.

The 8 and 9 Tails were being dragged to the Gedo Statue.

"Eight-o!" Killer B said.

Yang Kurama was trying to break free but couldn't. "Damn it!" he said.

Naruto held up his right index and middle fingers. "That's right... If I just undo this Kurama Mode...!" he thought.

"It's useless. Once I catch them. I won't let them go." Madara said.

"It's not working!" Naruto said. "Kurama's not going back inside me...!" he thought then lowered his right hand as he felt himself going back. "Damn it, I'm being pulled backwards!"

White Zetsu Army clone looked up at Madara. "Madara-sama, you must take them in order starting with the 1 Tail." he said.

Madara looked down at the White Zetsu Army clone. "I know that." he said.

"Since you need to rip out the last 2 Tailed Beasts, 8 and 9 Tails, from the Jinchuriki, why not pull in the others, the 1 Tail through 7 in the time being?" White Zetsu Army clone asked.

"You bastard! I'm not letting you take Kurama!" Naruto said.

Madara looked forward. "You're right, it looks like this will take longer than I expected. So let's start... with this one!" he said.

Shukaku started to get dragged to the Gedo Statue.

Gaara held his hands. "Desert Hands!" he thought.

Suddenly 2 large sand hands came out of the ground and grabbed the chain connected to Shukaku to stop him from being pulled.

"You can't have Shukaku!" Gaara said.

Shukaku looked at Gaara as he remembered memories Gaara and his former Jinchuriki, Bunpuku.

"Gaara, don't lose!" Naruto said.

Shukaku started to remember another memory with Gaara.

The White Zetsu Army clone looked at Gaara. "You Sand brat! Are you really that happy to have your old pet back? How dare you interfere, even when you're not going to die as a Jinchuriki!" he questioned.

Madara activated his Susano'o ribcage and shot an arrow at Gaara.

Naruto watched as Shukaku protected Gaara from the Susano'o arrow.

"My motto is absolute defense! I've still got my pride as Shukaku!" Shukaku said.

"I know..." Gaara said.

"No... you know nothing at all." Madara said.

The Susano'o arrow cut the chain off before the chains reconnected as it continued to drag Shukaku near the Gedo Statue.

Gaara suddenly fell down as he groaned in pain.

"Gaara... Don't overexert yourself!" Shukaku said.

"I'm no longer a Jinchuriki... So... I can finally pull all-nighters with you as an equal!" Gaara said.

"Gaara... You..." Shukaku thought, remembering Bunpuku. "... remind me of Bunpuku."

The 9 Tailed Beasts were being dragged to the Gedo Statue.

The 8 Tails cut off one of his tentacles as he gave it to Killer B with his right hand. "Damn it!" he said.

Naruto was being pushed further away from Yang Kurama.

"Hey, Kazekage brat! Do me a favor!" Yang Kurama said.

Gaara looked at Yang Kurama surprised as he started to say something to Gaara.

"All right..." Madara said.

"You got that... Gaara?!" Yang Kurama asked.

Gaara didn't say anything.

When Naruto completely separated from Yang Kurama, his eyes widened as he felt his heart beat loudly one time then it slowly started to slow down.

Gaara looked at Naruto. "Naruto!" he said.

Naruto closed his eyes as he didn't move anymore.

Gaara raised his left hand as he summoned sand to catch Naruto.

The 9 Tailed Beasts were stuck in order by the Gedo Statue.

Gaara watched as Shukaku got sucked into the Gedo Statue. "Shukaku!" he said.

 _"Sorry... Bee!"_ the 8 Tails thought.

 _"I'm counting on you... Kazekage brat!"_ Yang Kurama thought.

The 8 and 9 Tails were sucked into the Gedo Statue, who closed it's mouth and opened it's eyes.

Some of the shinobi from far away started talking in surprise.

Madara crouched down as he placed his right hand on the Gedo Statue's head. "Well, I guess... that's about all I can expect from my current strength." he said then stood up and looked down at the White Zetsu Army clone.

The White Zetsu Army clone looked up at Madara. "It took more than a few seconds... But you were faster than Obito." he said.

"You really do talk to much. You're all did inventions of mine... Always finding fault with me." Madara said.

"Black Zetsu is nicknamed 'Wicked Tongue' and they call us White Zetsu, 'Wagging Tongues'." White Zetsu Army clone said then laughed for a moment.

"I hope the other battle is going well." Madara said.

"Don't worry! After all, the base is good." White Zetsu Army clone said.

Madara suddenly sensed that Tobirama appeared behind him with a kunai in his right hand.

 _"Flying Raijin Slice!"_ Tobirama thought.

Tobirama tried to attack Madara but Madara moved his head to the right side before he punched Tobirama's right arm, making the kunai fall out, and summoned a rod from his right hand and tried to stab him but Tobirama teleported from that spot.

Tobirama reappeared and grabbed his kunai with his left hand and went after Madara. _"You're mine!"_ he thought.

...

Gaara held Naruto on his back and grabbed his right hand with his right hand as they flew away on sand. He looked at Naruto, worried. _"This is my chance! Naruto..."_ he thought then remembered some memories of his past with Naruto. _"I swear I will not let you die!"_ then looked forward. _"Like I'd let you die!"_

Madara lowered his right arm as he looked down at Tobirama, who was laying on his stomach, had 6 rods in his back, and was looking up at Madara.

"It's you M.O. to strike an opponent when he's convinced of victory... Making the brats do the work... You're still a delegator, aren't you, Tobirama?" Madara asked.

Tobirama smirked. "Same goes for you." he said.

"However, heaven is on my side. Look at you, the one touted as the fastest shinobi ever. There's a reason why you 2 brothers can't regain your former speed. Whether it's coincidence or if it's inevitable... I've got the edge now." Madara said.

Tobirama stopped smirking.

"Plus I'm nurturing a new eye. Though it's unclear which side they'll end up on..." Madara said.

Sasuke, who had his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, was flying on his giant hawk towards Madara's location as he remembered his conversation with Hashirama.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _Hashirama was still crouching down as he had the 6 rods embedded in his back. Sai was laying on his stomach on the ground. Sasuke, who now had the Sharingan, was standing a few meters away from them as he was about to leave._

 _Hashirama looked at Sasuke. "Wait!" he said._

 _Sasuke looked at at Hashirama from behind as his giant hawk landed on the ground._

 _"Uchiha lad... Let me give you a jutsu." Hashirama said._

 _"A jutsu?" Sasuke questioned._

 _"Yes... Madara stole my Sage Chakra... This jutsu will respond to the Sage Chakra and bind him." Hashirama said._

 _"Then do it yourself... If you're a reanimation, you'll recover right away. If you want... I'll pull those things out of your back for you." Sasuke said._

 _Hashirama looked forward. "These rods seem to be piercing my Chakra Points, preventing me from infusing more chakra. Also, I think it's a bad idea for you to touch them. I will give you all of my remaining chakra." he said then looked at Sasuke again. "You must stop Madara..."_

 _"Why ask me, an Uchiha?" Sasuke asked._

 _Hashirama looked at Sasuke again then closed his eyes. "You're a lot like him... Madara's younger brother..." he said then started remembering Izuna. "Izuna Uchiha."_

 _The giant hawk leaned down._

 _Sasuke looked at his hawk. "So? What does that have to do with stopping him?" he asked then starting petting his giant hawk's beak with his left hand._

 _Hashirama opened his eyes. "Madara's fundamentally a kind man. He was very devout and loved his siblings. That's why he gave you a chance at redemption." he said._

 _Sasuke looked at Hashirama again as he remembered what happened earlier._

 _"You might be able to stop Madara without using force." Hashirama said._

 _Sasuke stopped petting his giant hawk as he turned to Madara._

 _"Now... come stand before me." Hashirama said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Sasuke continued to fly to Madara's location.

Madara made another rod with his right hand as he held it with his left hand and threw it at Tobirama's head and top of his forehead protector. He stepped a bit closer to Tobirama.

"To be honest... I've wanted to do this to you for a long time. Since you're..." Madara said then he remembered Izuna's injuries. "the one who killed Izuna! But you're just a moving corpse, so it's hardly fulfilling."

"Madara... What is it that you so desire so badly that you'd come back to life for?" Tobirama asked. "Our, our time ended... ages ago!"

"I just want to build the nation that Hashirama couldn't. But this world belongs to Hashirama, my predecessor who failed. Drastic measures are needed to save the dying patient." Madara said.

"I'm going on ahead!" White Zetsu Army clone said then sunk back in the ground.

"So this thing called the Infinite Tsukuyomi was your idea? This is your idea of a cure?" Tobirama asked.

"Yes. Hashirama's nation-building bore a paradox. People desire peace..." Madara said then he raised his right hand. "And yet, on the other hand, crave conflict as well. That duality is mankind. To only want peace and to discard conflict... would cause people to stop being people." lowering his arms. "And those 2 things stand together side by side." then remembered his battle with Hashirama decades ago. "People will sacrifice something in order to protect something else. Except in a true dream world."

Tobirama smirked again. "You've got a point." he said. _"But... it's not a dream that you should interfere with!"_ he thought then he used his jutsu Heavenly Weeping with his mouth on Madara.

Madara deflected the attack with his Susano'o left arm and unsummoned it.

When Sasuke arrived at Madara's location, he jumped off of his giant hawk, who flew away, and jumped down with his sword in his right hand as he was going to attack Madara. "Now." he said.

Suddenly Sasuke became surprised because he couldn't and was in midair behind and a little above Madara. Sasuke wasn't holding his sword anymore as it pierced the Gedo Statue's head.

Madara still had his Susano'o aura on his left hand. "You could say that this world is Hashirama's paradox world." he said.

 _"Damn it!"_ Sasuke thought.

Madara unactivated his Susano'o aura.

 _"What is this?!"_ Sasuke thought.

Madara turned around and picked up Sasuke's sword then stepped towards him a little bit. He looked up at Sasuke. "In order to protect something... one must sacrifice something else." he said.

"Stop, Madara! Don't go any further..." Tobirama said.

Madara raised Sasuke's sword. "'Be they a friend... sibling... or even my own child...'" he said.

Sasuke becomes surprised when Madara stabs him in the chest with his own sword.

"I gave you plenty of time. And I warned you... that there wasn't much time left. How unfortunate." Madara said.

Gaara continued to hold onto the dying Naruto as he continued to fly on on sand.

...

Sasuke started to bleed as his shirt was being covered in his blood.

"Madara! What kind of a man are you?!" Tobirama asked.

Sasuke coughed up blood as covered some of his mouth then closed his eyes in pain.

...

Far away, Tobi, in his usual outfit, a fully white and could be easily distinguished by the spiral-pattern that stretches all over his body, ending in a circular eye-hole, the pattern did not cover his forearms and legs, but could open up in a similar manner to the flytrap extensions of the original Zetsu to reveal that he is hollow inside, and his current outfit, a long sleeved hooded indigo cloak, had his arms folded as he was standing on a giant statue that had a carving of a person and many hands called 'Wood Release: Several Hundred Hands'.

Some of the shinobi in the area started talking again.

As the statue started to attack the shinobi in the area dodged the attacks. The Raikage attacked the statue but ended being injured and stood up on the ground.

The Mizukage attacked the statue but ended being injured and stood up on the ground as well. "My jutsu won't activate!" she said. _"My chakra is-!"_ she thought.

"I can't believe we've been stopped by the likes of him..." the Tsuchikage said.

"This strange thing... It's blocking our way!" Sakura said.

 _"It's using the Wood Style... What is it?"_ Tsunade thought.

"I told you, I wouldn't let you pass so easily. By the way, isn't there anyone who can give me a serious answer to my question? I asked you, what does it feel like to poo?" Tobi asked.

5 heads from the statue opened their mouths as they contained Fire transformations, Water transformation, Wind transformation, Earth transformation, and Lightning transformation.

"Well... I'm thinking it's like the refreshing you get after killing someone." Tobi said.

"All 5 elements at once?!" Mifune asked, in his current outfit,samurai armour, much more traditional in appearance when compared to the ones worn by his subordinates: it's composed of a breastplate, with four plates protecting his legs attached to it, identical shoulder pads, and matching arm and leg guards. He also wears a belt, to which is attached a pouch and his sword: Kurosawa in his waist. _"How do we counter that?"_ he thought.

Hiruzen put his hands together. "I know!" he said then jumped into the air as he made 4 shadow clones and stood on the ground as he protected the shinobi. Hiruzen and his 4 clones each shot an element at the 5 statue head, creating an explosion and clouds as they stopped using their attacks.

The dust cloud slowly disappeared around them.

"Impressive... Using the same jutsu simultaneously as a counterbalance..." Tobi said.

Ino raised her left hand to her chest. "We're saved." she said.

Kiba smirked as he laughed a little bit. "Don't underestimate 3rd-sama!" he said.

 _"That said, everyone's exhausted most of their chakra. Which leaves only a reanimated 3rd-sama to fight back. If 3rd-sama should fall, we're done for... Forget Madara. We need to do something about him."_ Shikamaru thought.

Tsunade crouched down on the ground as Shizune was beside her on the right side.

 _"To be honest... Everyone needs to start fighting as if Tsunade-sama, Shizune, and I aren't able to use Medical Ninjutsu anymore."_ Sakura thought.

 _"This large-scale battle using big attacks is taking too long! And we haven't had a chance to regroup. We'll just have trust young Naruto to take care of Madara."_ the Tsuchikage thought.

From left to right, Suigetsu, Orochimaru, and Jugo were standing up as they were hiding behind a large rock. Karin was sitting on the right side of Jugo and held her hands on her shoulders as she was using her Mystical Palm Technique to gain some of her chakra back so she can fight on the battlefield again, her eyes were closed.

"This is our chance, Orochimaru-sama!" Suigetsu said.

Orochimaru secretly looked at Tobi. "Not yet." he said. _"This foe..."_ he thought.

Karin suddenly open her eyes and put hands on her head as she stopped using her Mystical Palm Technique, crying as she sensed that Sasuke and Naruto's chakra were fading away. "Now way!" she said, sadly.

Suigetsu placed his left index finger to his mouth. "Shh! Be quiet!" he said, looking down at Karin.

"No way! This is-!" Karin said.

Orochimaru and Jugo looked down at Karin.

"What is it?" Jugo asked.

"S-sa... O-onii..." Karin said.

"Did something happen to Sasuke?" Jugo asked.

Orochimaru looked up. "It seems I should do it sooner than later, after all..." he said.

Ino suddenly sensed something wrong, gasping.

Shikamaru and Choji looked at Ino on the right side.

"What is it, Ino?" Shikamaru asked.

Kiba suddenly smelt Naruto. "Naruto!" he said said.

Hinata looked at Kiba. "What?" she asked.

The shinobi in the area saw Naruto was being carried by Gaara on a sand cloud.

"Over there!" Gaara said then landed near Tsunade, Shizune, and Sakura.

"Naruto!" Sakura said worriedly as she ran towards Naruto and Gaara.

Gaara took Naruto off of his back as he laid him down on his back in as he separated the sand between them. "There's no time to explain. Hokage! Come with me! Heal Naruto as much as you can while we're en route." he said.

"I've depleted my chakra. I can't use Medical Ninjutsu anymore. Take Sakura. She can still help a little." Tsunade said.

Sakura stood on the left side of Naruto's sand. "How did Naruto end up like this?! What happened over there?!" she asked.

"Just come! Don't waste time! I'll explain later!" Gaara said, moving his arms.

"Quickly, Sakura, get on the sand!" Shizune said.

"Right!" Sakura said.

"How could this happen?!" the Tsuchikage asked.

"Is Naruto-kun there?" Hinata asked.

"Yeah! Over there!"Kiba said, pointing forward with his left index finger. "Can't you use your Byakugan?"

Hinata looked in the direction.

"Did he bring down Madara?" Shino asked.

Hinata used her Byakugan before she became sad and surprised to see that Naruto's heart was beating slower and slower. _"Naruto-kun's heartbeat... is getting weaker and weaker!"_ she thought then ran forward. "Naruto-kun!"

Sakura sat on the sand as she started using her Mystical Palm Technique on Naruto's chest with both hands as Gaara lifted the 3 of them up and started heading into a direction.

As Hinata continued running, she suddenly fell down on her stomach, panting and closed her eyes. _"Neji-niisan, please protect Naruto-kun!"_ she thought.

The Gedo Statue suddenly disappeared as Tobirama and Sasuke were laying on their stomachs on the ground while Madara stood a few meters away in front of Sasuke with Sasuke's sword still in his left hand.

"The fact that you possess such eyes proves that you've continued to seek something despite many great losses." Madara said.

Sasuke, who unactivated his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, looked up at Madara with his right eye opened.

"But it all ends here. You will lose your very self. It's what they call a true ending." Madara said.

Sasuke groaned in pain for a moment as he started to remember Itachi before slowly raised his upper body up with both arms then fell down as he opened both of his eyes as he slowly raised his upper half again. "I'm not dying. I... can't... die." he said then closed his eyes and groaned in pain before he fell down again.

Madara released Sasuke's sword as it pierced the ground before he turned around and walked away from the now dying Sasuke.

Sasuke opened his eyes as he tried to raise his upper half again. "I can't let Itachi's life... be in vain!" he said then remembered Itachi again. "Not yet... not here..." slowly clawing the ground. _"Until I build a true village... and become a true Kage."_ he thought. "I'm... not gonna die!" closing his eyes and fell down, his heartbeats getting weaker.

...

Gaara, Naruto, and Sakura continued traveling as Sakura continued to heal Naruto with her Mystical Palm Technique.

Sakura looked down at Naruto, worried. "Hang in there! Don't give up! You are strong! You will make it!" she said then her Mystical Palm Technique was getting weaker, she closed her eyes. _"My chakra's almost all...!"_ she thought.

Karin cried even more as she sensed that Sasuke and Naruto's chakra were fading away.

Orochimaru, Jugo, and Suigetsu were down at Karin.

"S-Sasuke... O-Oniisan is-!" Karin said.

Suigetsu placed his left hand on his left hip. "What's wrong, Karin?" he asked.

"Sasuke and Oniisan are really going to... die!" Karin said.

...

Sakura opened her eyes. "At this rate... At this rate, Naruto's going to... die!" she said.

...

As Gaara continues to transport Sakura and Naruto to take them to a location, Sakura that the 9 Tails' chakra on her is disappearing.

 _"The 9 Tails' chakra..."_ Sakura thought then stopped using her Mystical Palm Technique and touched Naruto's left hand with her left hand to feel for a pulse and leaned down then placed her left ear on Naruto's chest to hear a heartbeat but couldn't, she became surprised. _"No heartbeat or pulse..."_ then leaned up. "No way!" she said.

Gaara looked at Naruto. "Hang in there, Naruto!" he said.

Sakura took her hands off of Naruto as she crouched down instead of sitting down, looking down at Naruto. "What's going on?! My Medical Ninjutsu isn't working on him!" she asked.

"It's probably because the 9 Tails has been extracted from him!" Gaara said.

Sakura looked at Gaara surprised. "That's impossible!" she said.

Gaara looked at Sakura. "Madara got him. But there's a way to save him! That's why we're hurrying!"he said.

"To where?!" Sakura asked.

"To where the Fourth Hokage is." Gaara said, remembering what the Yang Kurama said to him before he went into the Gedo Statue.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"Hey, Kazekage brat! Do me a favor! His mother... One-half of me is sealed inside his mother, Kushina Uzumaki. So transplant the other half into Naruto. That will save him. Hurry to Kushina." Yang Kurama said._

 _"But she's with the Fourth Hokage and he has the Teleportation Jutsu. Can't we just contct them over there somehow and have her come here?" Gaara asked._

 _"That won't work! His Teleportation Jutsu is written into my Sealing Formula. Once I'm extracted, it will disappear..." Yang Kurama said then he was starting to be dragged. "Just rush Naruto over to Kushina. Got that, Gaara?!"_

 _Gaara didn't say anything._

 _When Naruto completely separated from Yang Kurama, his eyes widened as he felt his heart beat loudly one time then it slowly started to slow down._

 _Gaara looked at Naruto. "Naruto!" he said._

 _Naruto closed his eyes as he didn't move anymore._

 _Gaara raised his left hand as he summoned sand to catch Naruto._

 _The 9 Tailed Beasts were stuck in order by the Gedo Statue._

 _Gaara watched as Shukaku got sucked into the Gedo Statue. "Shukaku!" he said._

 _"Sorry... Bee!" the 8 Tails thought._

 _"I'm counting on you... Kazekage brat!" Yang Kurama thought._

 _The 8 and 9 Tails were sucked into the Gedo Statue, who closed it's mouth and opened it's eyes._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

"That's what 9 Tails told me. Right now, there's no other way to save Naruto!" Gaara said.

"How much longer 'til we get there?" Sakura asked.

"Several kilometers!" Gaara said.

Sakura looked down at Naruto before she opened Naruto's jacket with both hands and pulled his mesh shirt with her right hand. _"I'll do whatever it takes with what little chakra I have left!"_ she thought then held up her right index and middle fingers to make a Chakra Scalpel and sliced opened Naruto's chest on the left side and reached her left hand into Naruto's chest and began manually pumping Naruto's heart with her left hand as she activated her Mystical Palm Technique. "All right!" she said. "As long as I'm here, I am not going to let you die!"

Gaara used his sand to wrap it around Sakura's chest and looked forward. "I'm going to go at full speed!" he said.

"Right!" Sakura said, nodding.

...

Tobirama, who has hald of his right arm sliced off, looked over at the dying Sasuke. "If I could just... save his soul with my Forbidden Jutsu... I can't sense any chakra in him anymore. I can't even move my body... let alone use Teleportation. Damn you, Madara!" he said.

Karin sensed that Sakura was helping Naruto but no one was helping Sasuke, she took her hands off of her head as she decided on something. _"I need to go to Sasuke right away before it's too late!"_ she thought.

Karin stood up and turned around before she jumped over the large rock and started running to Sasuke's location, yelling for a moment as she cried.

Suigetsu looked at Karin, surprised. "Karin just went charging ahead!" he said.

Orochimaru and Jugo jumped over the large rock and ran after Karin.

"Let's go back up Karin!" Orochimaru said.

"Shouldn't we wait for an opening, or have some sort of plan?" Suigetsu asked then jumped over the large rock and ran after Orochimaru, Jugo, and Karin.

Tobi and the statue looked at Karin.

"Whoa, you're not getting past me. No one's answered my question yet." Tobi said.

The statue began attacking Karin, who dodged the attacks and climbed onto the statue.

"Don't get in my way!" Karin yelled then activated 4 Adamantine Attacking Chains from her back as she attacked the statue with them.

The giant wooden statue was mostly destroyed by Karin's 4 Adamantine Attacking Chains as bits of wood flew everywhere.

Orochimaru, Jugo, and Suigetsu stopped running.

"I'm going to Sasuke! Move, you bastard!" Karin said as she stopped crying.

Suigetsu held up his left hand to his head, amazed at Karin. "You've got to be kidding! Karin is amazing!" he said.

"What is this?!" Jugo asked.

Orochimaru smirked. "The same power as Kushina Uzumaki's." he said. _"After all this time, she's finally attained it..."_ he thought.

"Oh no... You just broke my little toy!" Tobi said, grabbing his wooden staff with his right hand and jumped towards Karin.

"Do not... underestimate me!" Karin said.

Tobi impaled Karin's stomach with his wooden staff, which shoots out several branches.

Karin's 4 Adamantine Attacking Chains disappear before she raises her left arm and bites it as she starts to heal, the branches from her stomach removed.

Tobi looked at his left side to see Suigetsu, who raised both of his hands.

"Double Blast!" Suigetsu said attacking Tobi with his Water Gun: Two Guns technique.

Jugo transformed his left arm and used his Piston Fist to grab Karin and pull her down on the ground.

"Not bad." Tobi said, a human left ear on the left side of his head.

Orochimaru made his neck longer and bit Tobi's right shoulder and paralyzed him with a curse mark and released as his head was now on his body.

"I can't move..." Tobi said. _"A Curse Mark!"_ he thought.

Orochimaru, Jugo, was holding Karin in his left arm, and Suigetsu went back to ruuning to Sasuke's location.

"Ha! Ha! Too bad!" Suigetsu said.

Some of the shinobi started talking again.

"Orochimaru, Karin... They got past it!" Hiruzen said.

Tobi landed on his back on the statue as Orochimaru's curse mark disappeared and raised his upper half. "It's no big deal. It's too late even if you go over there anyway." he said then stood up. "But as for you guys... I'm going to take you down."

"Stop your ogling! We must go too." Hiruzen said. _"Still... who is he?"_ he thought, looking at Tobi.

"Are you all right, Karin?" Jugo asked.

"Yeah... But never mind me. Sasuke! I can't sense Sasuke!" she said.

Jugo released Karin, who lowered her left arm and started running again.

As Madara continues walking away, he suddenly puts his hands together and a large explosion happens behind him as the 10 Tails appeared. Madarada lowered his arms as he absorbs the 10 Tails into himself.

Madara now took on a new form, white hair, pale skin, he became enveloped by a cloak of chakra that stabilised into physical clothing: a full-bodied black garment with black pants, gloves, and boots, over which he wore a flowing white robe with six black magatama markings across his chest and the familiar pattern of a black Rinnegan and nine black magatama markings in rows of three on his back, a grey horn-like protrusions grew out of his left temple and overlapped his forehead akin to a protector with an upward-curve on the right temple, giving him an overall appearance very similar to that of the Sage of the Six Paths, additional black magatama markings around his sleeve cuffs and the rim of his robe.

"So this is 6 Paths power..." Madara said, holding a staff in his left hand as some Truth-Seeking balls surrounded him. "Now, for that left eye." then flew into the air as he started heading for Obito's location.

Sakura placed her mouth on Naruto's as she began doing CPR manually beating Naruto's heat and the Mystical Palm Technique with her left hand. Sakura pulled back and placed her right on Naruto's face as she remembered what Naruto said in the past.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"I'm a super elite ninja who's gonna be the Hokage someday... Remember my name... Naruto Uzumaki! I'm gonna become the Hokage! The Hokage that surpasses all previous Hokage, dattebayo!" Naruto said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Sakura placed her mouth on Naruto's mouth again as she started doing CPR again, closing her eyes. _"That silly dream you once had... no longer seems silly. I will not let you die!"_ she thought then opened her eyes. _"You're not going to die, no matter what! Your dream... is right before your eyes now!"_

Tobirama suddenly heard footsteps. "Who's there?!" he asked but couldn't see through the dust clouds.

As Orochimaru, Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin continued running towards Sasuke's location, Jugo looked at Orochimaru.

 _"Depending on the situation, Orochimaru might try to steal Sasuke's body. It's what Kimimaro had wanted, but I doubt Karin would allow it."_ Jugo thought.

"There's someone else where Sasuke is." Karin said.

"Do you recognize the chakra?" Orochimaru asked.

"Yes! But..." Karin said.

Suigetsu looked at Karin. "But what?" he asked.

"How did he get out of it?" Karin asked herself.

"Then we need to hurry even more. We don't know what this stranger might do to Sasuke." Orochimaru said then thought about Sasuke. _"Is this the end for him?"_ he thought.

Karin gritted her teeth. _"Damn it... I'm not going to let Kabuto hurt Sasuke...!"_ she thought then she jumped forward.

Suigetsu moved to the right side when Karin jumped away from them. "Yikes!" he said.

"Karin! If you up the pace too much, you're going to collapse soon." Orochimaru said.

...

"Hurry, Kakashi... the left eye." Obito said.

"Obito's conscience is clear. Now's our chance." Kakashi said.

"The problem is how to tear Obito away from that guy." Kushina said, unactivated her Tailed Beast Mode.

"And we can't hand over that left eye to the enemy..." Minato said.

...

Sakura grabbed Naruto's nose with her right hand and continued doing CPR as she still continued to manually pump his heart with her left hand.

...

Madara continued to fly towards Obito's location. "I feel a little heavy. There's something catching in my chest." he said then he spit out a guord and jar as they fell to the ground. "The Sage of 6 Paths' Ninja Tools, eh? Useless." then continued to fly away. _"But now I'm lighter."_ he thought.

...

Minato made a Rasengan with his left hand, Kushina activated her Tailed Beast Mode again, and Kakashi, who activated his Chidori with his right hand. Minato and Kakashi panted a little bit as the 3 of them battled Obito and Black Zetsu, who were panting as well.

"You guys are stubborn too!" Black Zetsu said.

"Obito's consciousness is no longer stable." Kakashi said.

Minato looked at Kushina and Kakashi. "Let's go, Kushina. Kakashi." he said.

Kushina and Kakashi nodded.

"Hold on, Kushina! Ask Minato to switch his chakra to Sensory Mode!" Yin Kurama said.

Kushina looked at Minato. "Minato." she said.

Minato looked at Kushina again. "What is it?" he asked.

"Use your Sensory Mode." Kushina said.

Minato looked forward before he used his Sensory Mode, he suddenly became surprised. "No way!" he said.

Kakashi looked at Minato.

"What happened?" Kushina asked.

"We were distracted by what was happening here. There's no mistake. My other half has already been extracted!" Yin Kurama said.

"W-What?!" Kushina asked, suddenly becoming sad. "Then that means Naruto's..."

Minato stopped using his Rasengan and Kushina stopped using her Tailed Beast Mode.

"Sensei? Kushina?" Kakashi asked.

Everyone looked up to see Gaara, Naruto, and Sakura were arriving.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura said.

Gaara landed them on the ground behind Minato, Kushina, and Kakashi.

Minato, Kushina, and Kakashi turned around and looked down at Naruto.

Kushina unactivated her Tailed Beast Mode. "Naruto!" Kushina said, worried and crying as she ran towards Naruto, Gaara, and Sakura.

"What happened?" Kakashi asked.

"The 9 Tails was extracted from Naruto! At this rate he'll-!" Sakura said.

Kushina stood on the right side of Naruto's sand and hugged his face with both hand, tears continued to fall from her face. "Naruto!" she said.

Minato looked down at Naruto. "Naruto..." he said.

"Kushina, I bring a message from Naruto's 9 Tails! He said to transplant the other half of 9 Tails that you have within you, into Naruto! That will save him!" Gaara said, looking at Kushina.

Black Zetsu became interested. "Oh..." he said.

Minato and Kakashi looked at Black Zetsu.

"Kakashi, will take care of him." Minato said.

"I understand." Kakashi said.

Minato looked at Kushina. "Kushina, you know what to do." he said.

Kushina stopped hugging Naruto's face and wiped her eyes with her left arm. "I know." she said.

As Minato, Kakashi, and Gaara were now facing Black Zetsu and Obito, Minato watched as Kushina made the hand signs for the Tailed Beast Transfer Technique with both hands and placed her left hand on Naruto's stomach.

Minato started to remember something with him and Kushina years ago.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _17 years ago._

 _Morning._

 _Minato and Kushina's House._

 _Entrance._

 _Minato, in his old usual outfit, and Kushina, in her usual outfit and pregnant, were facing each other. Minato was smiling and Kushina had a worried look on her face._

 _"I'm going." Minato said._

 _Kushina placed her right hand over her chest. "Be careful." she said._

 _"Of course! I'm not dying until I see my child's face." Minato said._

 _Kushina looked down at her now medium sized stomach and placed both of her hands over it as she rubbed it with her right hand. "Once this baby is born... I'll have 2 things to worry about." she said._

 _Minato had a concerned look for a moment before he smiled. "Don't worry! I'll protect the kid! No matter what happens, and no matter what it takes!" he said._

 _Kushina looked at Minato before she nodded, taking her hands off of her stomach then put her hands together. "But you're busy being a ninja, and I get the feeling he's going to be mischievous and unreasonable and say he wants to be the Hokage..." she said, worried._

 _Minato smiled nervously as he held up his hands. "Hey, wait!" he said._

 _"He'll be clueless about girls... And he'll defy his teachers! And..." Kushina said._

 _"Hold on!" Minato said._

 _Kushina stopped talking._

 _"The child's not even born yet... You're even worrying too much! Besides, how do you know it's a boy? Or that he'll want to be the Hokage even before it's born?" Minato asked._

 _"Because... I'm his mother." Kushina said._

 _Minato stopped smiling for a moment as he blushed. "In any case, I'm a ninja. And I'm not going to die easily. And no matter what happens to me, I will protect the child." he said then lowered his hands. "Don't worry!"_

 _"You're quite confident when it comes to this baby, dattebane!" Kushina said._

 _"Well, of course... I'm his father." Minato said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Minato watched as Kushina was transfer the Yin Kurama into Naruto as a bright yellow-orange light appeared then it disappeared. Suddenly, a part of Black Zetsu stepped in between Kushina's hand and Naruto as he had Yin Kurama sealed into him, becoming Yin Kurama's new jinchūriki.

Everyone became surprise.

"Huh?!" Kushina asked.

"What?" Sakura asked.

"That's-!" Yin Kurama said, looking down at Black Zetsu.

"9 Tails... You're finally mine!" Black Zetsu said, looking up at Yin Kurama.

Everyone looked at Black Zetsu and Obito, who were now on their hands and feet.

Gaara looked at Kushina. "What happened?!" he asked.

Kushina tried to punch a part of Black Zetsu with her right fist but Black Zetsu escaped into the ground and back to it's original.

Black Zetsu and Obito stood up.

"How's Naruto?!" Gaara asked.

Something crashed into the ground a few feet away from them.

Everyone looked at the crash sight.

"What was that?" Sakura asked.

"No way..." Gaara said.

"Madara-sama..." Black Zetsu said.

"You're late, Black Zetsu... I decided to come to you!" Madara said. "Zetsu... How long are you going to cling to Obito?"

"Sorry... But that allowed me to steal 9 Tails' other half from these guys." Black Zetsu said.

Madara smiled. "Good. Now bring it, and my left eye, to me." Madara said.

Minato suddenly became surprised again. _"I sense Sage Power... And it's much stronger than what Obito possessed."_ he thought.

"So Kushina's 9 Tails is inside that black thing!" Gaara said.

"Madara?! How did he get 6 Paths' power?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura became surprised again.

Everyone watched as Black Zetsu was starting to leave the left side of Obito.

"Since Madara-sama is here, you can't do anything to me... even if I separate myself from Obito." Black Zetsu said then he suddenly felt himself stop and was pulled back to Obito.

"Now, Kakashi!" Gaara said.

Kakashi and Gaara ran towards Black Zetsu and Obito.

Black Zetsu tried to leave Obito again but couldn't as he was now fully on the left side of Obito again.

Kakashi was behind them on the left side and Gaara was behind them on the right side as they were a few meters away.

Obito panted before he opened his eyes.

Madara stopped smiling.

"Why you-! You're still-" Black Zetsu said.

Obito looked at Black Zetsu. "Not yet..." he said then looked at Madara. "I need to ask you something, Madara."

Gaara raised his left arm and prepared to attack until Kakashi stepped towards him and placed his right hand on his left shoulder. Gaara looked at Kakashi.

"We need the 9 Tails inside that thing for Naruto. We cannot afford to miss. We have to wait for the right moment." Kakashi said.

"Just what am I... to you?" Obito asked.

Madara laughed for a moment. "You're kidding, right? What kind of a stupid question is that, at this point in time?" he asked. "You are only one thing to me... You are Madara."

Obito remembered what happened in the past.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"Now go... Until the time when I am revived... You shall be Madara Uchiha." Marara said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

"Madara is he who rejects the world. All who hold that in their heart... and strive towards achieving the Infinite Tsukuyomi are Madara." Madara said.

"That..." Obito said then remembered Rin and her death. "That was once my path too."

"I left you in charge of everything... And let you walk in my shoes, while I slept, waiting to return. It's the path I guided you towards. You were supposed to live out your life as Madara in order to achieve our goal. As the savior who rescued this world. This world laid out by the Sage of 6 Paths... has failed."

Obito looked at Naruto.

"Now listen... The chakra dispersed by the 6 Paths was originally... meant to be a linking power. The mental energies of people would connect and feelings would be understood without the need for words... That would lead to peace and stability. The one who preached this as Ninshu, the Ninja Creed and sought to guide the people, was the Sage of the 6 Paths. However... But before long, people used chakra not to connect with others but only to link the mental and physical energies within themselves. Through a method of infusing one's own chakra and increasing it multifold... they changed chakra into ninjutsu that could be used as weapons in battle. Ironically reverting to the way 6 Paths' mother, Kaguya, had originally used chakra." Madara said.

"Just what the hell is he talking about?!" Sakura asked.

"Gaara..." Kakashi said.

"I know." Gaara said.

"All the Sage of the 6 Paths did was to further the human paradox. And even if bonds were established... All they learned was that true understanding was not possible." Madara said, remembering his past with Hashirama. "In any case, chakra only gives rise to conflict and false hope. We all know the reality all too well... Even as we seek peace, we seek war. And this reality compels infinite suffering through the power known as chakra. Power leads to the desire for war. And the lack of power leads to losing everything. I will build a new world that overcomes that! Through the Infinite Tsukuyomi, I will create a dream world without any abdominal chakra! I, who possess the most powerful chakra, shall lead it! And you are not Obito, but me... Madara himself. Obito Uchiha with his Uchiha Chakra, challenged Kakashi Hatake, desired the title of Hokage, and yearned for Rin Nohara! But because his power was false, he ended up losing everything!" Madara said.

Obito looked at Madara, serious.

"This is hell! Have you forgotten?!" Madara asked.

Obito's eyes widened as he sweated, remembering Rin and Madara.

"Come over here. Yes, come, Madara!" Madara said, holding out his right hand. "From this day forth, you are a savior."

Black Zetsu and Obito stood up as they walked over to Madara.

"You are still the savior, even now." Madara said.

Gaara crouched down as he placed his hands together on the ground. _"Sand Wave!"_ he thought.

Kakashi activated the Mangekyo Sharingan. _"Kamui!"_ he thought.

Minato threw a his signature kunai between Madara and Black Zetsu and Obito with his right hand. _"Sage Jutsu!"_ he thought.

Madara became surprised as the Kamui sucked Obito in.

Minato appeared in front of Madara as he activated his Sage Mode and had his Rasengan in his left hand. _"Rasengan!"_ he thought.

Madara kicked Minato's Rasengan with his right foot to the Sand Wave, making it explode.

Minato looked at the explosion before Madara kicked him with his right foot, sending him on his back in between Kakashi and Gaara.

"Minato!" Kushina said, worried.

Minato crashed into Gaara while Minato's Rasengan crashed into Kakashi, making them fall a few meters backwards.

The Kamui stopped pulling in Obito. as the Save Wave fell down.

"No way... Their combined attack..." Sakura said.

Black Zetsu and Obito continued to walk to Madara.

Madara raised his right hand again. "Now..." he said.

Obito raised his right hand and when he made it to Madara he went to grab his right hand only to quickly stab Madara in the chest.

Madara became surprised.

Everyone became surprised at Obito's actions.

Madara lowered his right hand. "You damned..." he said.

"What are you doing?!" Black Zetsu asked, looking at Obito.

Obito looked at Naruto, who was still being healed by Sakura, remembering his conversation with Naruto in the past, and what Madara and Naruto said to him. "One who leads others... is one who never steps over his friends' corpses... even if his own ends up being stepped on." he said.

Obito used some of Black Zetsu to make a truth seeking ball with his left hand as there was a small hole on it.

"Then in order to confirm that, you'll have to become a corpse." Madara said.

"You won't be stepping on me anymore. I realized now that letting someone handle everything in your name isn't the same as truly entrusting them with the task. I am not you." Obito said.

Minato became surprised as he stood up. Kakashi was panting as he was crouching down.

Obito made a weapon from Black Zetsu with his left hand as the hole got bigger. He closed his right eye as he remembered Rin.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"Go for it, Obito! Become the Hokage and save the world! That's a promise too!" Rin said, smiling._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Obito opened his right eye.

Sakura looked up from Naruto and at Obito.

Obito made his Sage of 6 Paths staff with his left hand as he held it. "The current me... is the one who wanted to be Hokage... Obito Uchiha!" he said.

Gaara crouched down.

"Obito..." Minato said.

"Obito!" Kushina said.

 _"Obito... You've finally found yourself!"_ Kakashi thought.

Obito started to take some chakra from Madara.

Madara reached to grab the Rinnegan from Obito, Obito activated his Mangekyo his ability to stop Madara, with his right hand.

"I passed through you. That's your original right eye's power." Madara said then stepped back a few meters only to discover that he was still connected to Obito.

Madara now saw that he in a dark room surrounded by water, orbs of white light, Yin Kurama, Black Zetsu, Obito, and the Tailed Beasts.

"Are you trying to weaken me by taking away the Tailed Beasts? Do you think you can challenge me and win?!" Madara asked.

As Obito tried to get the Tailed Beasts but only took a tiny piece of 8 Tails with his right hand.

"So weak... Is that all? You only tore off a mere sliver of the One of the 8 Tails?" Madara asked.

Obito took the tiny piece of 8 Tails out of Madara then looked at Kakashi, who was now standing up. "Kakashi! Take Naruto into the Time-Space!" he said.

 _"Obito plans to hand him the 9 Tails there!"_ Kakashi thought then looked at Naruto's location. "Kamui!" he said, activating the Mangekyo Sharingan again.

Kushina, Naruto, and Sakura were pulled into the Kamui.

 _"Kamui!"_ Obito thought, using the Kamui on himself.

 _"I know that when you teleport your body materializes..."_ Madara thought then swung his staff at Obito, causing wind to start.

Obito landed backwards on the ground a few meters. _"If I try to teleport carelessly, he'll come after me. My teleportation speed is too slow."_ he thought, reverting his right hand to itself.

"Since he'd been in Sage Mode once, he was able to steal some Sage Power from me too..." Madara said.

...

Kamui's Dimension.

Kushina and Sakura noticed that they were in a dark place surrounded by grey rectangular prisms

The sand fell down as they were now on one of the rectangular prisms.

Sakura closed her eyes and panted. _"Madara... could have killed me at any time... I was so scared I forgot to breathe!"_ she thought.

Kushina looked at Sakura, crouching down. "Please breathe slowly." she said.

Sakura opened her eyes as she looked at Kushina. "Okay." she said. "Of all the people, he's in a different class!"

"I know." Kushina said then looked down at the rectangular prism. "Mito used to tell how me how powerful he was."

...

War Grounds.

Obito crouched down as Kakashi stood on the left side of him.

"All right, I transported Naruto. All that's left is for you to teleport yourself there and Naruto will be saved, right, Obito?" Kakashi asked.

Obito closed his eyes. "Damn it. You always talk down to me..." he said, slowly standing up. "And act so superior... Just like old times." opening his eyes for a moment then closed them as he started to remember the past. "I thought I understood a little about you. But I didn't understand a thing... I finally understood... on our last mission together." he stood up. "This time, I'll take point and you'll be my backup, Kakashi."

"It's been a while since we were a two-man squad. Don't stumble, Obito." Kakashi said.

"Are you prepared for this?" Obito asked.

"Yeah... I'm glad my final op will have been with you." Kakashi said.

"Obito... Kakashi." Minato said.

"Obito, I'm taking back everything I loaned you. Especially that left eye..." Madara said.

"Are you worried, Madara? You told me once that only with both together could the Sharingan's true power be unleashed. And so..." Obito asked.

"You're wrong. Those are Rinnegan, not just Sharingan." Madara said.

"You're wrong." Obito said.

Madara became confused.

"I was talking about these eyes." Obito said.

Minato started to remember something from the past.

 _"In order to resurrect Naruto, they need the Rinnegan and the 9 Tails. Obito has them both, so as long as I don't allow him to teleport away to his time-space... And I've already discovered... that my attacks are faster than their Kamui's transfer speed. There's no doubt one of them will try to distract me while the other performs the Kamui. Obito will teleport himself or have Kakashi teleport him. Whatever they decide, I'll be able to stop Obito again. I should keep it fast and simple with Limbo... No... I shouldn't use that as long as Obito still has the Rinnegan. Then I'll attack them both simultaneously!"_ Madara thought than held his staff with both hands as he started to attack Obito and Kakashi with some of his Truth-Seeking Balls.

Minato started to remember what Rin said to him years ago.

Obito and Kakashi activated Obito's Mangekyo Sharingans. "Kamui!" they said.

Kakashi looked at Obito, who was being sucked in by the 2 Kamuis.

Madara noticed this before the explosion happened as a large dust cloud appeared. "They both released their Kamui at the same time! And doubled the speed of the jutsu!" he said.

...

Kamui's Dimension.

Kushina and Sakura watched as Obito, who was now crouching down, appeared a few meters away from them.

"Obito!" Kushina said.

Obito stood up. "Don't worry. I'm here to help Naruto." he said.

"Can I trust you?" Sakura asked.

"It's alright, Sakura. Obito's no longer that kind of person anymore." Kushina said.

Obito walked forward. "Ever since I was a kid, I've never been able to walk a straight path." he said then crouched down on the right side of Naruto and was on the left side of Kushina, placing his right hand on Naruto's chest. "But I've finally gotten to where I needed to go."

Kushina and Sakura watched as Obito used the Tailed Beast Transfer Technique on Naruto with his right hand as a bright yellow-orange light appeared and disappeared.

...

As Orochimaru, Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin made it to Sasuke's location, they stopped running as they saw Kabuto crouching down on the left side of Sasuke, who was laying on his back unconscious, as he had his stomach snake on Sasuke's chest.

"Sasuke!" Karin said then looked at Kabuto. "You're out of Itachi's Izanami?!" then pointed at Kabuto with her left index finger. "What are you doing to Sasuke?"

"Oh, so that's what's going on..." Suigetsu said.

"Karin lowered her left arm as she looked at Suigetsu for a moment. "Huh?" she asked then looked back at Kabuto.

"So it was you... Kabuto." Orochimaru said.

Kabuto looked from Sasuke to Orochimaru. "I sensed a group rushing this way... It was you, after all, Orochimaru-sama." he said.

Karin raised her left fist. "Get away from Sasuke, you brainy jerk!" she said.

"What brings you here, Orochimaru-sama?" Kabuto asked.

"I should ask you the same thing." Orochimaru said.

Jugo looked at Orochimaru. _"What are you planning, Orochimaru?"_ he thought.

Karin lowered her left arm.

Suigetsu pointed his right index finger at Kabuto. "Mister Kabuto... Don't tell me you're going to absorb Sasuke? And would that make you Kabuke or Sasuto?" he asked.

Karin watched something from Kabuto's stomach snake go into Sasuke, gasping for a moment. "You're the one who did this to Sasuke?!" she asked then ran forward. "You bastard!" then stopped a few feet away.

"Suigetsu... I don't desire to do that anymore. Nor am I going to steal Sasuke-kun, Karin-chan.

Karin started to sense Sasuke's chakra again. "Sasuke's chakra! I can faintly sense it! No way!" she thought. "Kabuto... You're helping Sasuke?" she asked.

"Yes. With my Medical ninjutsu and much-tinkered cells of Hashirama, along with a certain someone's suggestion, I managed to stop him from dying." Kabuto said.

"He's right." Tobirama said.

Orochimaru and Suigetsu looked at Tobirama.

"Huh?!" Suigetsu asked, surprised.

"Well, well... if it isn't the man I most respect... the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju-sama." Orochimaru said.

Orochimaru and Suigetsu looked at Kabuto again.

"However, Kabuto... You being here means that you were able to slip out of the infinite loop set up by Itachi's Izanami?" Orochimaru questioned.

"You're right. I was unable to acknowledge myself, I didn't even know who I was." Kabuto said, remembering his past. "That allowed you to give me easy answers and use me. Making me lose myself even more... But with that jutsu, Itachi made me realize... that I am none other... than Kabuto... and where my home is."

Suigetsu looked Orochimaru. "Does it seem like the person inside has changed too?" he asked.

Karin stepped forward and crouched down on the right side of Sasuke, crying as he looked down at him.

"That is the jutsu known as Izanami. The jutsu is set up so that you cannot undo it until you reflect upon yourself and accept who you are." Orochimaru said.

"Sasuke..." Karin said, sadly.

"Now I wish from the bottom of my heart to not lose my home. And Itachi, who wanted to protect Sasuke-kun even more unto death... His feelings have pierced through my heart strongly." Kabuto said.

Suigetsu pointed his left index finger at Kabuto, annoyed. "Hey! Isn't it a little too late to say things like that? You teamed you with that fake Madara! You guys started this war!" he questioned then lowered his left arm.

"You're right. Both Obito and I... thought we'd lost our place in this world. And dragged everyone else into this. But, I now know who I am. Ad what I must do!" Kabuto said.

Karin wiped the tears from under her glasses with her left arm and lowered it. _"I need to heal myself right now. When Kabuto's done healing Sasuke, he going to battle Madara again and I need to help them."_ she thought then she sat down on the ground and placed her hands on her shoulders as she started to use the Mystical Palm Technique on herself, closing her eyes.

...

Naruto's Mind.

Naruto opened his eyes to use that he was laying on his back in a large dark room and a small pool of water under him. "Where am I? Did I die?" he asked himself.

"What makes thee think that you thou art dead?" a male voice asked.

Naruto raised his upper half up as he looked to the left side to see a man that looked to be in his 60s, beige skin color, purple Rinnegan eyes, deep wrinkles and a strong jawline, spiky, shoulder-length, pale brown hair, with a chin-length, braided lock hanging in front of his left ear, a pale brown goatee that tapered down to his waist, a pair of horn-like protrusions extending from either side of his forehead, a red Rinnegan-like marking in the centre of his forehead, and in his usual outfit, a white, full-length kimono with a pattern of six black magatama around a high collar, a necklace which was also made up of six black magatama, on the back of his kimono was a larger, black Rinnegan marking with a pattern of nine magatama arranged in three rows of three beneath it, and black sandals, were sitting as he was floating in the air.

"Thee ethical viewpoint on death differs much from that which prevailed in my time... To so easily replace oneself with the term 'death'... Thou must gain mettle, oh fledgling." the old man said.

Naruto became confused. "Who are you?" he asked.

"'Tis quite a precise query for this place, but... I am quite uneasy over whether thou shalt be able to connect my name with my actions as a herald..." the old man said then turned around to face Naruto. "I am he who shall achieve peace and order... My name is Hagoromo."

Naruto became even more confused.

"On the other hand... I had foreseen that thou wouldst end up in such a state as that." Hagoromo said.

 _"Uh... I don't understand what the hell he's saying. He seems to be one of those annoying geezers!"_ Naruto thought then faced Hagoromo. "Hey, gramps, sorry. But, I..." he said.

"Now then..." Hagoromo said.

Naruto became surprised. "Hey! Those eyes! Rinnegan!" he said, crouching down.

"Thou dost appear to possess observant eyes. All that remains is for thee to pragmatically comprehend thy circumstances. Thou hast not died yet... This place is thine inner mind. I understand thine haste, but at this moment, rushing will accomplish naught." Hagoromo said.

 _"This geezer's not an enemy? But..."_ Naruto thought. "Can't you speak a little more smoothly, using easy, normal words?" he asked.

"I am an anachronism. Over the passage of much time, cultural traditions and notions, and ethics have brought about significant change. Each occurrence where I cross time and meet a reincarnate, I have come to sense greatly the differences between the other and myself... I was able to formalistically regulate and learn new mores and words, however..." Hagoromo said.

Naruto pointed his left index finger at Hagoromo. "Shut up already! I don't have the time to be sitting around and listening to some weird geezer!" he said, standing up.

"Not just searching for words... But there is ambiguity in scholarship. If communication of cannot be achieved in addition to difficulty of definition... I see I must speak simply... taking into account current idealistic and materialistic thinking." Hagoromo said.

Naruto lowered his left arm. "Are you an alien or something? I mean, you seem super dignified, but..." he asked.

"Uh, that's a bit much, doncha think? An alien? Seriously?" Hagoromo asked.

Naruto became confused again.

"Well, maybe that ain't too far off. So anyway..." Hagoromo said then became confused. "Do you still fail to understand me? To think that conversation would pose such a complex challenge..."

Naruto smiled nervously as he moved his arms around. "No! Keep talking like just now. I finally get you! I was just shocked because your speaking style changed so drastically, dattebayo?" he asked then stopped moving his arms.

"Oh, for real? Then I'll keep going like this. Much pleased!" Hagoromo asked.

Naruto became confused for a moment before he smiled nervously, putting his hands together. "Uh, yeah. Oh but, those words don't match up with your face at all, so it's kind of super-scary..." he said. "And he loses all dignity too." he thought. "You should be just a bit more formal. Otherwise, you come off kind of dumb."

"Now you're going too far, no? What do you mean by dumb?! Well, considering how I was talking before, I guess I can't blame you for that. So how's this then?" Hagoromo asked.

Naruto pulled his hands apart as he pointed his left index finger at Hagoromo. "That's it! All right! That's perfect!" he said.

"Indeed. I'm getting the hang of it too." Hagoromo said.

Naruto stopped smiling as he lowered his left arm, sighing. "Finally, I can talk with you, dattebayo. So anyway, gramps, who are you? If you know a lot about this place, tell me how to get out of here!" he asked.

"Don't ask so many questions all at once! I am a person of the past, someone long dead. A monk who wanders through this world as chakra, crossing generations, ascertaining the course of Ninshu, the Ninja Creed. My name is Hagoromo, the founder of the Ninja Creed. I'm also known as the Sage of 6 Paths." Hagoromo said.

Naruto became surprised. "What?! The Sage of 6 Paths?! The sage from the legends that Pervy Sage and Nagato talked about?" he asked.

"Oh, so you know about me?" Hagoromo asked.

Naruto spread his arms out. "Of course I do! You're the one who created ninjutsu, right?" he asked.

A black staff, that had 6 rings at bottom and a C shaped object at the top, suddenly appeared on the left side of Hagoromo.

Hagoromo grabbed the staff with his left hand. "Not ninjutsu... Ninshu, the Ninja Creed. My Ninja Creed was something meant to birth hope. Do not it with ninjutsu which breeds conflict!" he said.

"In any case, if you're the sage, I've got tons of things I wanna ask you. But first, right now..." Naruto said.

Hagoromo placed the bottom half of his staff in the water as it made small waves.

Naruto looked down at the water as he noticed the images in it.

"You are my son Ashura's... Anyway, the conditions are all in place now. There are things I must entrust you with." Hagoromo said, moving forward and stopped a few feet away from Naruto.

Naruto lowered his arms as he looked up at Hagoromo. "Ashu... ra? Entrust? Quit talking gibberish and let me out of here!" he asked.

"Forgive me... That is something I have no influence over. That depends on the actions of those outside. I can only relay things to you." Hagoromo said.

"I'm not getting what you're saying again, dattebayo!" Naruto said.

"It means right now, trying to rush won't make any difference." Hagoromo said then turned to the left side a little bit. "So I want you to listen for a bit... No, you _must_ listen..." then moved his staff. "First, about my mother and sons." then placed his upper half in the water as it made small waves.

Naruto looked at Hagoromo for a moment before he looked down at the water to see images again.

"My mother, Kaguya Otsutsuki, came to this land of yours from a faraway place. She came in search of the fruit of the Divine Tree. The chakra fruit of that same Divine Tree, that you have seen in this war. Kaguya consumed the fruit, attained power, and subdued this land." Hagoromo said.

Naruto looked up at Hagoromo, smiling. "Where'd Kaguya come from? Is she stronger than you, Sage of 6 Paths? I guess all moms are scary when they're mad, huh?" he asked.

"It matters not where she came from. Mother was powerful... More powerful than any other." Hagoromo said.

Naruto looked down at the water again to see more images as he stopped smiling.

"Some called my mother the Rabbit Goddess and others considered her a demon... They both worshipped her and feared her. Later, Kaguya would birth 2 sons. I was one of them. We brothers, to atone for the crimes mother left behind, battled 10 Tails, an incarnation of the Divine Tree, and sealed it inside me. The Divine Tree, robbed of its Chakra Fruit, went on a rampage in an attempt to recover it. Much, much later, I had 2 sons of my own. I named the elder, Indra, and the younger, Ashura, and I taught them the Ninja Creed. But there was a huge difference between the 2. One possessed genes containing my powerful chakra and the other did not. And this difference manifested itself in an extreme manner." Hagoromo said.

Naruto looked up at Hagoromo again as he raised his right arm. "It's getting complicated again, dattebayo? What does this all mean?" he asked then looked down at the water as he lowered his right arm.

"In short... There was the exceptional older brother, Indra... and the dunce younger brother, Ashura." Hagoromo said.

Naruto felt hurt. "A dunce, huh? Even though his dad's the Sage of 6 Paths?" he asked.

"Perhaps there's no need to say this to you, but... No matter how exceptional both parents may be, there's no guarantanee one will inherit outright either of their abilities. Sound familiar?" Hagoromo asked.

Naruto looked at Hagoromo.

"Just as it seems to have have been in your case, Naruto." Hagoromo said.

Naruto looked annoyed as he sighed for a moment. "For some reason, I understand that completely, dattebayo." he said.

"And you are truly similar to Ashura, in your actions as well." Hagoromo said.

Naruto looked at Hagoromo again. "Huh? My actions?" he asked.

"Indra and Ashura walked different paths in life." Hagoromo said.

Naruto looked down at the water again to see more more images.

"Elder brother, Indra, possessed strong Visual Prowess and senses from birth, and was called a genius. He always did everything alone, leaning only on his own strength and came to understand that his powers were different and special. He perceived that power could achieve everything. On the other hand, nothing ever went well for the younger brother, Ashura, from the time he was young. And he couldn't do anything on his own. In order to attain the same power as his older brother, he needed the cooperation of others in addition to his own effort. While struggling through training, the power of bodily chakra awakened within Ashura and he attained power rivaling his brother's. He came to understand that he was able to become strong, thanks to the cooperation and help of those around him. He learned of the love for others that arises from thinking about others... And perceived that it was love that can achieve everything. In the way that the younger one chose to live his life... I thought I caught a glimpse of new possibilities. I partitioned the power of the 10 Tails inside of me, and named each of the pieces... And believed that the bond known as 'cooperation' was true power." Hagoromo said.

Naruto smiled again.

"I then named the younger brother, Ashura, the leader and guardian of the Ninja Creed, believing that his elder brother, Indra, would cooperate with his younger brother. However..." Hagoromo said.

Naruto stopped smiling as he looked at Hagoromo again.

"Indra did not accept my decision. And thus from that day on, interminable conflict began. Even after their flesh perished, the chakra the 2 honed continued to reincarnate across time, without vanishing... over and over." Hagoromo said.

Naruto smiled nervously. "It kind of sounds like being haunted by a ghost. It's creepy. So, is it still possessing someone even know?" he asked.

"It's you, Naruto." Hagoromo said.

Naruto stopped smiling as he folded his arms.

"The younger brother, Ashura has been reincarnated in you. My eyes can clearly see Ashura's chakra clinging about you." Hagoromo said.

Naruto looked at his right side. _"I wonder if..."_ he thought.

"You don't seem too surprised. Perhaps, you have sensed Ashura's presence inside you already?" Hagoromo asked.

Naruto looked at Hagoromo again.

"I thought as much. Then you must known already... who is the reincarnate of the older one, Indra..." Hagoromo said.

Naruto unfolded his arms as he thought for a moment. "Sasuke..." he said then he remembered memories from the past. "Isn't that right?"

...

Sasuke's Mind.

Sasuke was standing a few feet away from Hagoromo, who was floating in the air as he was sitting. They were in a dark room as water was beneath them.

"The older brother, Indra, has been reincarnated in you. My eyes can clearly see Indra's chakra clinging about you." Hagoromo said.

Sasuke looked at his left side before he looked at Hagoromo again.

"You don't seem too surprised. Perhaps, you have sensed Indra's presence inside you already?" Hagoromo asked.

Sasuke looked down at the water.

"I thought as much. Then you must know already... who is the reincarnate of the younger one, Ashura..." Hagoromo said.

Sasuke thought of something for a moment. "Naruto... Isn't that right?" he asked.

...

Naruto's Mind.

"Yes. You sensed it, after all." Hagoromo said.

"It seems that there were other reincarnates besides Sasuke and me..." Naruto said, raising his hands. "Who were the others?"

"The first generation of reincarnates were Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha. Hashirama was Ashura. Madara was Indra. You how they ended up. However, Madara could end his life as a reincarnate, he created a certain problem. Madara was so obsessed with power that he stole some of Hashirama's. Which, in short, caused the merging of Ashura's chakra with Indra's chakra... And the result was that it became essentially, my own chakra. That's right, he awakened the Rinnegan I always thought that someone like that would appear among either Indra or his reincarnates. Hence, I left behind the stone tablet that contained my writings on how to deal with this. Although, it seems no one could understand its meaning..." Hagoromo said.

"So, Super Sage Gramps, you've been watching your kids' sibling rivalry all this time?" Naruto asked.

"Yes, I suppose you could say that." Hagoromo said.

Naruto looked down at the water. "I see..." he said.

"Through Ninshu, I preached that chakra is the power that links individuals. I strongly believe that chakra should not be something that amplifies the strength of one person alone." Hagoromo said.

Naruto saw more images in the water as Hagoromo placed the upper half of his staff in the water for a moment with his left hand.

"Even after my mother, Kaguya, put an end to chaotic times, she ruled with her power alone. However, my mother's power bred arrogance within her. And mankind began to dread the existence of that power. That is my mother, once known as the Rabbit Goddess, became feared as a demon. When power is concentrated in one person, that power runs rampant and in time, it possesses the person. The current Madara is a prime example of that... He's become just like my mother, Kaguya. Now, he's no longer Indra's incarnate. He's obtained 10 Tails' power and is getting close to me. And he is trying to obtain even my mother Kaguya's power. The Infinite Tsukuyomi doesn't just cast genjutsu over you. It keeps you trapped inside genjutsu dreams, so that the caster can use your individual power while keeping you alive. You're attached to the roots of the Divine Tree, and turned into living slaves. Mother possessed the power of Sharingan as well as Byakugan. She used her Visual Prowess to cast that jutsu upon the populace. It was a ghastly Jutsu. If all chakra were too reunited into one again, a new Chakra Fruit would take shape. That must be prevented at all costs... or this world will end." Hagoromo said.

Naruto looked up at Hagoromo.

"I would like you to stop Madara. Unlike the previous reincarnates, you tend to be a little bit of a fool. But there may be potential in your unpredictability." Hagoromo said.

Naruto closed his eyes, smiling. "Even long after you died, you tried to protect the world... And even when it's turned out like this, you still have faith in us. Thank you." he said, opening his eyes.

"Don't thank me. I don't deserve it." Hagoromo said.

...

Sasuke's Mind.

"If the current world desires Indra's, or rather, my mother's way... and if that's the natural flow... then I'm the one who's selfishly trying to go against it and stop it. Even in terms of how the Tailed Beasts are being used, not for maintaining peace and balance, but only as weapons... Perhaps my way is naive." Hagoromo said.

...

Naruto's Mind.

Naruto opened his eyes. "No! You're not wrong, Super Gramps!" Naruto said.

"You're absolutely right, old man!" a male voice said.

Naruto looked around for a moment before he notices Shukaku coming out of the water forward of him and Hagoromo.

"Oh, aren't you Gaara's? Why are you inside of me?" Naruto asked then looked at Hagoromo again.

"You see, Obito..." another male voice said.

Naruto looked at the right side to see the 8 Tails coming out of the water. "Octopops!" he said.

"He extracted a portion of Shukaku's and my chakra from Madara. He knew exactly which Tailed Beast powers you were lacking, that guy!" the 8 Tails said.

"Obito did that?" Naruto asked.

"A lot of things happened." another male voice said.

Naruto looked in another direction to see the 9 Tails coming out of the water.

"He even put me inside of you. Now you've got the chakra of all 9 Tailed Beasts within you, Naruto!" Yin Kurama said.

"Even you? The other half of Kurama?" Naruto asked.

Yin Kurama looked at Hagoromo. "The promised time has finally come, old man 6 Paths!" he said.

Naruto looked at Hagoromo again.

"You're right, my dear Kurama... Just as Gamamaru prophesied... a blue-eyed youth who can name all 9 beasts and frolic among them." Hagoromo said.

"Prophesied? You mean the prophecy Giant Gramps Sage passed on to the Pervy Sage? Gamamaru is real name? You're pretty awesome because you know that, Super Gramps?" Naruto asked.

Yin Kurama looked at Naruto. "Hey, Naruto!" he said.

Naruto looked up at Yin Kurama, confused.

Hagoromo laughed for a moment then stopped. "You truly have the ability to win other's cooperation." he said.

Naruto looked at Hagoromo again.

"You managed to summon my soul. And accepted that Ashura has reincarnated inside of you." Hagoromo said then laughed for a moment then stopped.

The water disappeared to reveal the other tailed beasts.

"Shukaku. Matatabi. Isobu. Son Goku. Kokuo. Saiken. Chomei. Gyuki. Kurama." Hagoromo said.

Naruto looked at all of the 9 Tailed Beasts.

"It seems the time has come... for the child of prophecy to change the world. My dear Naruto..." Hagoromo said.

Naruto looked at Hagoromo.

"What do you want to do? What do you seek for the aftermath of this war? I would like to hear your honest thoughts and opinions." Hagoromo asked.

Naruto thought about something for a moment. "Maybe I'm really like this Ashura guy. Only... unlike him, I'm just a stupid kid who doesn't know much about a lot of things. But, I do know what friends are. And I want to protect them all. That's it." he said.

...

Sasuke's Mind.

"Is that your answer?" Hagoromo asked.

"Yeah..." Sasuke said.

"Long ago, I entrusted everything to Ashura and cast my attention away from Indra. That proved to be the source of calamity. Put out your dominant arm. This time, I am also entrusting my power to you, Indra's reincarnate." Hagoromo said.

...

Naruto's Mind.

"From this point on, Naruto and Sasuke... What you both shall do, and what shall transpire, will be up to the 2 of you." Hagoromo said.

...

Sasuke's Mind.

"Naruto and I..." Sasuke said.

...

"Sasuke and I... may not be real brothers, but I really believe that we can make peace. Because we're pretty good friends." Naruto said.

Hagoromo released his staff before as it floated in the air then held up his right hand.

Naruto stepped forward a bit before he raised up his right hand and touched Hagoromo's right hand.

...

Sasuke's Mind.

Hagoromo released his staff before as it floated in the air then held up his left hand.

Sasuke stepped forward a bit before he raised up his left hand and touched Hagoromo's left hand.

...

Drops of water dripped into the water for a moment before they stopped.

* * *

End of Chapter 17.

Please Review.

No Flames.


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18.

Please Review.

No Flames.

* * *

Night Time.

War Grounds.

15 minutes later.

Tobirama, Orochimaru, Kabuto, Jugo, Suigetsu, and Karin, in their usual outfits, were around Sasuke, in his usual outfit, unconscious as he was laying on his back. Karin completely healed herself as she looked down at Sasuke sadly.

"Hey, Kabuto! Sasuke's... Sasuke's going to be okay, right?" Karin asked.

Everyone remained silent.

Karin looked at Kabuto. "Hey, say something, you-" she said but was cut off when she heard a grunting noise.

Everyone looked down at Sasuke as they became surprised to see that he was moving.

...

Kamui's Dimension.

Kushina, in the Konoha flak jacket uniform, Obito, in his now current outfit, and Sakura, in her version of the Konoha flak jacket uniform, were crouching down over Naruto, in his usual outfit, who was unconscious.

Sakura looked at Obito. "Obito! Is Naruto all right?" she asked.

Obito looked at Kushina and Sakura. "Naruto the Jinchuriki will die if his Tailed Beast is extracted... But I put the Tailed Beast back inside him. He should be okay now." he said.

Kushina, Obito, and Sakura looked down at Naruto before they became surprised to see that he moved.

...

War Grounds.

Sasuke opened his eyes and wiped the blood from his mouth with his right hand before he stood up on the ground as he now had a black crescent moon marking on his left palm.

Karin smiled and blushed lightly as she placed her hands together near her chest. "Sasuke!" she said.

"Time to go." Sasuke said.

...

Kamui's Dimension.

Kushina and Sakura looked at Naruto, who opened his eyes and stood up on the rectangular prism as he now had a white sun marking on his right palm.

Kushina and Sakura smiled. "Naruto!" they said.

"Time to go." Naruto said.

...

War Grounds.

Naruto, who was transported back because of Obito's Kamui, was quickly racing towards Madara, in his Sage of 6 Paths outfit, who was healing from his injuries that Guy gave him, now badly burned and was about to die on the ground on his back after used the Night Guy.

"Your flame is about to go out... But in gratitude for such a great time, I'll finish you off... before you turn to ashed on your own!" Madara said, throwing one of his Truth-Seeking Balls at Guy.

Before the Truth-Seeking Ball could go to Guy, Naruto suddenly appeared and kicked it back at Madara with his right foot. Madara dodged it by ducking.

Madara looked at Naruto. _"He kicked away my Truthseeker Orb?!"_ he thought.

Naruto stood on the left side of Guy as he looked down at him. "Bushier Brow-Sensei..." he said then crouched down on his left leg and placed his right hand on Guy's chest before he used his Six Paths Power of Light to stop him from dying and released him before he stood up again.

"Naruto...? You seem a little different from before." Madara asked. _"What did Obito do?"_ he thought.

"Yeah... I'm still trying to figure it out myself, dattebayo." Naruto said then turned to Madara. "But I think I can change everything now!" as he now had the Sage of Six Paths Mode.

Madara suddenly noticed that Guy's chakra was appearing again. _"That node's chakra hasn't gone out. What's going on? What did he do? Don't tell me he stopped the end result of the 8 Gates?!"_ he thought.

Naruto started to run over to Madara and ran his left fist.

Madara stood up as he turned his last Truth-Seeking Ball into a staff with both hands and defend himself as Naruto appeared right in front of him and punched him.

The God Tree started to crack a little.

 _"He touched the Truthseeker Orb, so how can he-? Is it because I haven't finished healing yet? No! His power is suddenly growing?!"_ Madara thought.

Naruto made his right hand into a fist. _"Son! Lend me some of your chakra, okay, dattebayo?"_ he thought.

"All right!" Son Goku said.

Naruto raised his right hand as he made a Sage Art: Lava Style Rasen-Shuriken as it became bigger. "Sage Art: Lava Style Rasen-Shuriken!" he said.

Madara flew away from Naruto, who almost immediately followed him.

"Th-this is bad!" Madara said then he started to use his Rinnegan. "Limbo!"

Naruto stopped as he felt something.

 _"What?! He dodged... my Limbo?!"_ Madara thought.

Naruto looked at Madara again before he threw his Lava Style Rasen-Shuriken at him.

Madara grunted in pain as he was being pushed back by the Lava Style Rasen-Shuriken.

"All right!" Naruto said.

The Lava Style Rasen-Shuriken not only pushed Madara but was also started to cut the God Tree.

Naruto covered most of his face with his arms. "Burst!" he said.

Before the Lava Style Rasen-Shuriken disappeared, it completely cut the God Tree.

Madara flew backwards as he landed hard on the lower half of the God Tree, before looked up at the now 2 parts.

Kakashi, Lee, and Gaara, in their usual outfits, looked up at the falling God Tree.

Kakashi was crouching down. "The tree's been severed!" he said.

The God Tree started to fall down.

Madara continued to look up at the falling God Tree.

"Take me within you." a male voice said.

Madara became surprised. _"Who is that?!"_ he thought.

"Take the Divine Tree... 10 Tails... everything into you." the unknown male voice said.

"Did Naruto do it?" Gaara asked.

"Guy-Sensei is over there too!" Lee said.

Naruto grabbed Guy with both hands and carried him as he jumped away.

Madara went over to the God Tree before he started to absorb it into him.

...

Karin stopped smiling and blushing and put her hands down then stood up as she, Orochimaru, Kabuto, Jugo, and Suigetsu looked at Sasuke, who walked over to the right side of Tobirama and stopped, who started pulling out the rods from Tobirama's back.

Tobirama looked up at Sasuke.

...

Madara continued to absorb the God Tree until it was completely gone.

"The tree disappeared!" Gaara said.

Lee looked at Gaara before he looked up at the sky as he started to cry.

Lee and Gaara looked at the right side to see Naruto and Guy suddenly appeared.

Naruto took Guy off of his back with both hands and crouched down as he laid him on the ground on his back.

Lee ran over to Guy and Naruto, worried. "Guy-Sensei!" he said then stopped near them.

"Bushier Brow-Sensei is gonna be okay! He's not gonna die!" Naruto said.

"Naruto-kun, you healed him? But I thought he had activated all 8 Gates..." Lee asked.

Naruto looked down at his right hand. "I feel like I can do all sorts of things... the way I am right now!" he said then lowered his right arm before he turned around and stood up.

...

Sasuke pulled out most of the rods with his left hand and tossed them on the ground.

 _"He touched Madara's rods, but he wasn't affected..."_ Tobirama thought.

Sasuke took out the last rod with his left hand and tossed it on the ground.

 _"What happened to him while he was dying?"_ Tobirama thought.

"Can you teleport, Second-sama?" Sasuke asked.

Tobirama stood up from the ground and looked down at Sasuke. "I see... Yeah... I'm linked to the Fourth's markings. But unfortunately... At the current strength, I can only teleport 1 person fully there and another person halfway there." he said.

"That's plenty. 2 people will do." Sasuke said.

Karin looked at Orochimaru, Kabuto, Jugo, and Suigetsu on the right side. _"Sasuke will probably end up taking one of them with him, like Orochimaru or Kabuto."_ she thought.

 _"His wind... has gotten even stronger."_ Orochimaru thought.

"Karin." Sasuke said.

Karin quickly looked at Sasuke.

"You're coming with me." Sasuke said.

"A-Are you sure?" Karin asked.

Sasuke nodded.

"Okay. You'll take the full way and I'll take the halfway. Oniisan needs your help." Karin said.

"Right." Sasuke said.

"Sasuke-kun... I wanted to see where your wind would take you... But I've witnessed enough. In fact, from now on, we'll only be a burden to you." Orochimaru said.

Suigetsu closed his eyes, smiling. "So we're not gonna be ordered around by you 2 anymore. That sounds good to me too." he said then opened his eyes.

"Sasuke, Karin..." Jugo said.

Kabuto became silent.

"Okay, let's go." Karin said.

Sasuke stepped forward and stopped before Tobirama placed his left hand on Sasuke's left shoulder before he disappeared.

Karin stepped forward and stopped in front of Tobirama before he placed his left hand on her left shoulder and she teleported away. Karin suddenly found herself being surrounded by shinobi. She started to sense where Sasuke and Naruto's chakras were and after a moment she sensed they were in the mid-week.

"I have to hurry." Karin said then started run in the mid-week direction.

...

Naruto was crouching down on the right side of Guy while Lee was crouching down on the left side of him. Gaara was standing nearby.

Naruto stood up. "Bushy Brow and Gaara, take care of Bushier Brow-Sensei." he said.

"Naruto-kun..." Lee said then looked up at Naruto. "Thank you for... Guy-Sensei..."

Naruto nodded before he turned to leave.

"Naruto..." Gaara said.

Naruto stopped and looked at Gaara.

"When you become Hokage, let's have a drink together." Gaara said.

Naruto smiled. "You got it!" he said then looked forward before he jumped away.

Kakashi looked at Naruto. "Is that Naruto's?!" he asked himself. _"Obito... You..._ " he thought.

...

Kamui's Dimension.

Obito panted.

Kushina was still crouching down while Sakura was standing up as they looked at Obito.

"You're an enemy. You hurt and killed many of my comrades... I don't want to say this, but... If Kushina-san trust's you then I'm going to consider you an ally just this once." Sakura said then closed her eyes. "Thank you for saving Naruto."

"I have one final favor to ask you." Obito said.

Sakura opened her eyes.

"Not as an ally, but as an enemy..." Obito said.

Kushina became confused.

...

War Grounds.

Madara, who was now completely healed, was floating in the air as he was holding a black staff in his left hand. "I understand now... The Divine Tree itself..." he said then laughed a little bit. _"The time has come for all to become one."_ he thought.

Naruto landed near a kunai before he picked it up with his left hand and placed it in his mouth. _"Is it because I met Super Gramps Sage and got more power from him? I can feel it clearly even from here... The other half of Super Gramps' power."_ he thought.

"You cannot take me down." Madara said then raised his right fist. "Essentially, I am completely immortal now." then lowered his right arm. "I have obtained eternity!"

Naruto placed his hands behind his head. "You idiot! I'm not taking you down..." he said then lowered his arms.

Madara suddenly noticed that Naruto was activating his Nine-Tails Sage Mode as he now had a black staff in each of his hands.

Sasuke suddenly appeared on the right side of Naruto as he placed his right hand on his right hip.

"We're gonna take you down, dattebayo!" Naruto said.

"Your time has come, Madara." Sasuke said.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan as he now had a Rinne-Sharingan in his left eye.

"One has awakened the 6 Paths' Senjutsu... and the other awakened the Rinnegan, huh? However... I possess both of those powers!" Madara asked then placed his hands together. "This is the final battle! My powers versus yours... Let's settle who is superior, once and for all!" then looked closely. _"Sage Art: Shadow Style Thunder Blast!"_ he thought then separated his hands before he shot purple lightning at Sasuke and Naruto.

Naruto threw the staff in his left hand at the purple lightning, which stopped it from going any further.

Madara noticed that the purple lightning wasn't going any further and Sasuke disappeared. _"Sasuke's gone?!"_ he thought then looked at the left side to see Sasuke.

Sasuke placed his left hand on the left side of his face. _"This left eye... So that's what it can do..."_ he thought.

 _"Teleportation? This distance? No, he didn't teleport!"_ Madara thought.

Naruto jumped up as he held a staff with both hands as he prepared to strike Madara. "You should pay attention, dattebayo!" he said.

Madara looked at Naruto. _"Limbo!"_ he thought.

Naruto stopped as he felt something strange again.

Sasuke noticed something. _"What is that?!"_ he thought.

Madara moved his arms down.

Naruto tried to hit Madara with the staff but couldn't. _"He did it again!"_ he thought.

Madara breathed in some air. _"Sage Art!"_ he thought then broke Naruto's staff in half as he fell floating in the air.

 _"Gale Style: Fang of Light!"_ Madara thought then closed his mouth.

Sasuke grabbed his sword with his right hand.

Naruto noticed something coming from behind. _"It's coming again!"_ he thought.

Sasuke pulled out his sword from his holster with his right hand and threw it in the air. "Over there!" he said.

Sasuke's sword flew past Madara and Naruto then pierced the ground.

 _"It didn't hit."_ Sasuke thought.

Naruto was suddenly hitas he flew backwards a few meters then landed on the ground. "Sasuke, it's headed your way! Something I can't see is ambling around you." he said.

"Oh yeah? I can see it clearly!" Sasuke asked.

 _"These guys can see my Limbo..."_ Madara thought.

 _"It's... another Madara."_ Sasuke thought.

 _"So he can see it with his Rinnegan... And that one, can't see it but senses it..."_ Madara thought.

"Naruto!" Sasuke said then looked at Naruto. "Looks like our physical attacks... have no effect on the other Madara."

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Yeah!" he said.

Sasuke and Naruto looked up at Madara.

Madara raised his left hand as he summoned a Truth-Seeking ball. _"Normally, one shouldn't be able to sense or see it from this realm..."_ he thought then turned it into a black. _"That 'me' exists in the invisible would of 'Limbo'. How did they both obtain such power so suddenly?"_ then looked at Sasuke. _"That Sasuke Uchiha... He was the only one who awakened the straight pattern, Chou-Tomoe Sharingan just like mine. Perhaps Sasuke and I share a bond beyond blood."_ then started to fly. _"Well then... That left eye should suit me perfectly!"_

Sasuke used his Rinnegan to escape.

Madara stopped on the ground as Sasuke's sword now pierced through his chest.

Naruto looked at Madara confused.

"So, that's your left eye's ability as well." Madara said

Naruto looked behind him to see Sasuke walking towards him.

"Then try it." Sasuke said then stopped near Naruto on the left side. "That's not enough to kill you, is it?" he asked then felt something. _"So the 6 Paths' Sage Chakra can affect the shadow Madara too, huh? That wound on his right arm... is from blocking Naruto's first attack earlier."_ he thought.

"It seems your shadow returns to your body after a certain amount of time. Naruto, when his shadow emerges again, go after it. I'll take on the visible one. However..." Sasuke said.

Naruto smirked as he looked forward. "I used to hate it when you would order me around... Some things never change, huh?" he asked.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "Let me finish." he said then looked forward. "This is our chance. Madara and his shadow will probably stay merged for a while longer. I don't care what it is, but get a Sage Power Jutsu ready. One that seals movement."

"Then you should use my chakra to build your Sealing Jutsu." Shukaku said.

"Thanks... ummm..." Naruto said.

"It's Shukaku!" Shukaku said.

Madara released his staff with his left hand as it floated in midair as he removed Sasuke's sword with his left hand. _"He's estimating the Limbo's duration, activation interval and how to counter it... He's got a sharp intuition, calm analyzing and judgement skills, and a Choku-Tomoe Sharingan just like mine. If he had only been born before Obito... he would be my... No... There's no point in reflecting now. No matter what's happened, I must keep in mind that these 2 aren't ordinary brats. I need to get my other eye back soon."_ he thought, looking at the right side.

Naruto raised his right hand. "Sage Art: Magnet Style Rasengan!" he said, creating the jutsu.

Sasuke raised his left hand as he made a dark version of the Chidori. "And I have 6 Paths Power too..." he said. _"Chidori!"_ he thought. "Naruto, shoot that towards me! I'll take care of the rest."

Naruto looked at Sasuke again. "It's a bit irritating, but there's no time to argue!" he said.

Madara looked confused at Sasuke and Naruto.

Naruto aimed his Rasengan at Sasuke and Sasuke aimed his Chidori at Naruto only to suddenly attack Madara with them.

 _"Why am I here?"_ Madara thought.

Sasuke and Naruto continued to attack Madara.

"Naruto, the jutsu the Sage of 6 Paths gave you... You know it, right?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah, the time is now!" Naruto said.

Madara flew up.

"What?" Sasuke asked.

"He moved?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke saw the Limbo Madara took his place. _"He substituted his shadow?"_ he thought.

Naruto looked up. "Over there!" he said.

Sasuke and Naruto stopped attacking as they saw Madara fly away.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke, I'll hold this one down, so go after the real one!" he said.

Sasuke tried to use his Rinnegan to go to Madara but couldn't.

 _"Seems like his Rinnegan can't reach this distance. I'm starting to understand your left eye's abilities, Sasuke."_ Madara thought.

"Hurry, Sasuke! Madara is heading straight for..." Naruto said.

Madara headed straight for Kakashi.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" Naruto said.

When Madara made it to Kakashi, he ripped out Obito's left eye with his left hand and flew away.

Kakashi grunted in pain.

Madara placed Obito's left eye in his left eye socket, healing instantly.

...

Kamui's Dimension.

Sakura was holding a kunai with both hands as she stood a few feet away from Obito, her hands shaking.

Kushina looked at Obito, sad and worried. "Obito... Are you sure about this?" she asked.

"Hurry and destroy my Rinnegan... I can't hold off Black Zetsu any longer." Obito said.

...

War Grounds.

Sasuke and Naruto now stood a few meters behind Madara as Sasuke activated his Chidori Blade with his left hand.

Sasuke ran over to Madara.

Madara looked at Sasuke. _"I must admit Sasuke sure is fast."_ he thought.

When Sasuke made it to Madara, he cut him in half at the waist.

Madara activated Obito's left Mangekyo Sharingan. _"Kamui!"_ he thought then started transporting away .

 _"Damn! Just his upper body, huh?"_ Sasuke thought.

...

Kamui's Dimension.

Sakura's hands continued to shake as she tried to strike Madara's right Rinnegan.

"Now, hurry!" Obito said.

"I know!" Sakura said then moved forward.

Sakura suddenly stopped as she, Kushina, and Obito looked to see a Kamui opening up to reveal Madara. The 3 of them became surprised.

"Oh no, you don't!" Madara said then threw his staff in his left hand at Kushina and Sakura.

Obito activated his right Mangekyo Sharingan. "Kamui!" he said.

A Kamui surrounded Kushina and Sakura as they disappeared from the dimension.

...

War Grounds.

Sasuke was standing next to Kakashi, who was sitting down, before a Kamui came as Kushina and Sakura were now crouching down on the ground.

Kakashi and Sasuke looked at Kushina and Sakura.

"Kushina-san! Sakura!" Kakashi said.

Kushina and Sakura looked at Kakashi and Sasuke.

"Kakashi." Kushina said.

"Kakashi-Sensei." Sakura said then became surprised to see Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun?!"

"Why did you 2 pop up here, Sakura?" Sasuke asked.

"They were in the Time-Space plane... Kushina-san, what's going on over there?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura gasped. "Kakashi-Sensei, your left eye!" she said, standing up.

Kushina stood up as well. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Kakashi placed his left hand over his left eye socket. "It all happened so quickly. But I think Madara stole my Sharingan." he said.

Kushina walked over to Kakashi and stopped a few feet away from him. "Let me take a look, Kakashi!" she said, leaning down.

"Thanks." Kakashi said, lowering his left hand.

Kushina placed both of her hands on Kakashi's left eye socket before she used her Mystical Palm Technique.

Sakura walked forward and stopped next to Kushina and Sasuke.

"In any case, what happened to Obito? I'm sure Madara used the Kamui to teleport himself there!" Kakashi asked.

"In a flash, Sakura and I were back out here, so..." Kushina said.

Sakura looked down. "Madara..." she said then she remembered the past.

...

Flashback.

7 minutes ago.

Kamui's Dimension.

"I want one of you to destroy my left eye, the one that has the Rinnegan. I can't even move now... If I let down my guard, even just a little bit... Black Zetsu will take over my body, Rinnegan and all. Then he'll use my right eye's Visual Prowess to get back outside... and the Rinnegan will fall into Madara's hands. If he ends up with both eyes, terrible things will happen." Obito said.

"Terrible things? How much worse can it get? Hasn't he done enough?" Sakura asked.

"I wasn't able to implant both Rinnegan myself. Even with just this left eye, its chakra Visual Prowess are so strong that I started losing myself. I'm not even its original owner, yet I was able to accomplish this much with just one. If both Rinnegan are restored to their true owner, I fear no one will be able to stand against him..." Obito said.

"But that's-!" Kushina asked.

"With Visual Prowess, only with both eyes together can their full power be unleashed. We can't waste any time. Please one of you destroy this eye!" Obito said.

Flashback Ends.

...

Kushina and Sakura gasped.

"What's wrong, Kushina-san?!" Kakashi asked.

"We're in trouble!" Sakura said.

"Obito had reached his limit and couldn't move... Which means Madara's going to get Obito's Rinnegan, dattebane!" Kushina said.

...

Kamui's Dimension.

Madara picked up Obito with his right hand by the chest. "The Cursed Seal Tag I placed on your heart has disappeared. How did you remove it? You shouldn't have been able to damage it yourself." he asked.

"I had Kakashi stab me and remove it." Obito said then remembered the past. "Since it was in the way of me making myself into the 10 Tails' Jinchuriki... I gambled my life on it... But I wasn't going to keep doing what you wanted!"

Madara laughed for a moment. "Actually, you did exactly what I wanted you to do. In fact, you exceeded my hopes." he said.

"What's so funny?" Obito asked.

"A Curse Seal Tag meant to turn you into a puppet... One that would restrict your movements, should you try to remove it from inside the body it's implanted in. It seems you knew about it, Obito. Regarding these Curse Tags I implanted in the 2 of you... Naturally, you couldn't have killed yourselves either. Since you both were my precious pawns." Madara said.

"'You both'...?" Obito asked.

"As fate would have it... It's ironic that both of you ended up getting rid of them through the exact same method." Madara said.

Obito became surprised as he remembered Kakashi killing Rin. _"Rin!"_ he thought.

"Yes. That plot to make that girl into the 3 Tails' Jinchuriki and have her rampage through the Leaf Village was mine. Not the Hidden Mist's! That girl took advantage of Kakashi's attack against the enemy to avert the plot, at the cost of her life. But that was also part of my plan... In order to pitch you into darkness and make you into my pawn." Madara said.

"You bastard, you deliberately had me see all that!" Obito said, angrily.

Madara held Obito up more. "I waited for the opportunity, when Minato was away on another mission. And manipulated the Mist Shinobi into kidnapping Rin, leaving Kakashi so he would come after her. The other purpose of that was so I could see the extent of your unleashed power. Did you really think that White Zetsu goading you on, and you being able to get out from underground right at the moment was all a big coincidence?" he questioned.

Obito thought about the past.

"That the girl dying by Kakashi's hand was more than I could have hoped for. Either way, I would have had my Puppet Shinobi kill her. I taught you to use the darkness in people's hearts... to manipulate them, didn't I, Obito?" Madara asked, lowering Obito a little bit.

Obito gritted his teeth.

"If there isn't any darkness, you can create some. Don't you think it's presumptuous to consider yourself any different?" Madara asked then hurted Obito.

Obito closed his eyes as he groaned in pain. "Why? Why me?!" he asked, opening his eyes.

"You were kind and cared about people from the bottom of my heart. Remember how great you were at taking care of the elderly?" Madara asked.

Obito looked up as he imagined Rin, Kakashi, and other people he knows.

"Your deep love for Rin... for your comrades and friends... for the Hokage and all other shinobi... Once you fell into darkness, it would conversely transform into an equally profound hatred for this world. That's the kind of guy you are." Madara said then lowered Obito a little bit more. "For my plan to work completely, I just need one more thing... I'll be taking back that left eye."

...

War Grounds.

Naruto made a shadow, who had a black staff in both hands as he stabbed the Limbo Madara with Naruto, who was stabbing it with his right hand. Another staff was in Limbo Madara.

"This should do it! You can't move anymore. I'm leaving him to you!" Naruto said.

The Naruto released the staff before jumped away. "Right! You can count on me, dattebayo!" he said.

Kushina was crouching down as she continued to heal Kakashi with both hands.

"It seems Madara appeared there." Sakura said.

"I see... So that's what Obito said." Kakashi said.

Sasuke had his left eye closed. "We don't know when Madara might emerge. Stay alert." he said.

Kushina, Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura to see Naruto coming towards them until he landed near them.

"What about his shadow?" Sasuke asked.

"I stopped him cold with my Shadow Clones and 6 Paths' Rods!" Naruto said.

Kushina stopped healing Kakashi.

"Naruto?" Sakura asked.

"Naruto?!" Kushina asked, surprised.

"Hey, Mom, Sakura-chan... Let me do it!" Naruto said then stepped forward to Kakashi then stopped.

"What are you trying to do, Naruto?" Kushina asked her son.

"Hey!" Sasuke said.

Kushina stood up.

Naruto looked at his mother. "It's okay, it's okay." he said then looked at Kakashi before he crouched down and placed his right hand on the left side of Kakashi's face. He closed his eyes for a moment then opened them and stood up, taking his right hand off of the left side of Kakashi's face. "Kakashi-Sensei, try opening your eye."

Kakashi opened his eyes before he became shocked.

Kushina, Sasuke, and Sakura became surprised.

"No way! How did you do that?" Sakura asked, putting her right hand near her mouth.

Naruto looked at Sakura and placed his left hand on his chin, coughing a little bit and closing his eyes. "It's really hard to explain in words... But I took a part of Kakashi-Sensei, and then I kinda... um... uhh..." he said.

Sakura lowered her right arm.

Sasuke turned in another direction for a moment then turned back. "Hey, Naruto... I told everyone to stay alert!" he said.

Naruto opened his eyes and lowered his left arm as he looked at Sasuke. "What? But it's the first time I'm hearing of it!" he asked.

"Quit talking back for once, Naruto!" Sakura said.

"Naruto's right. He wasn't here when Sasuke said that, dattebane." Kushina said.

Kakashi looked up at Sakura.

"Anyway, Naruto will have to explain about the eye later!" Sakura said.

"Madara stole Kakashi's eye and went to where Obito is. The next time he appears, he'll have both Rinnegan!" Sasuke said.

"What? Really?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi started to remember Team 7 from the past then looked at Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura. _"You've already surpassed the Hokage, Naruto. You're a hero and everyone has acknowledged you. But becoming Hokage is still your dream. And Sakura... Even though Karin's dating Sasuke, I bet your feelings for Sasuke have changed from what they were back then. You still love him, but on a totally different level. He tried to kill you, yet you still care for him. You won't cut him off, no matter what. And you think it's your duty to save him from the darkness. That's how kind you are. Sasuke... Your dream was to kill Itachi. Now that he's gone, what do you desire? What are you heading towards? I was your teacher, but it turned out that I didn't understand you at all. Even now..."_ he thought. "Sasuke... What is your dream now?" he asked.

Everyone looked at Sasuke.

"What's the true meaning behind you saying you'll become the Hokage?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi closed his eyes. "It might be fate that reunited the old Team 7 like this, Sasuke. If you want to say what you're thinking right now, that's fine. But the fact we were once Team 7 is undisputable... Right?" he asked.

Kushina, Naruto, and Sakura looked at Kakashi.

Kakashi opened his eyes as he looked forward. "In front! He's coming!" he said.

Kushina, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura looked in the direction Kakashi was looking in.

"You haven't forgotten the lesson from the very first mission to steal the bells, have you?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura raised her arms midway. "Yes!" she said, nodding.

"Of course not! The answer is teamwork!" Naruto said.

Suddenly a Kamui opened up to reveal Madarain full body and Black Zetsu and Obito, who was now unconscious.

"Then dying together can also be considered teamwork, eh?" Madara asked.

Everyone continued to look at Madara.

"Madara... you have both Rinnegan." Kakashi said. "His lower body has completely healed." he thought.

"Obito!" Naruto said.

"Unfortunately, Obito is gone. I've taken over his body now. Seems he was hoping to right his wrongs. He was praying like a child, deep inside... so that he could have the future to you all. How convenient that would have been for him, right? Just like a spoiled brat." Black Zetsu asked.

Kushina and Naruto became angry.

Madara looked around for a moment.

Sakura became surprised as she took a few steps back.

 _"I can't blame her. Given the power of those eyes."_ Kakashi thought.

Sakura started to remember somethings from the past then she activated her Hundred Healings Mark as she used her Mitotic Regeneration the Hundred Healings as more markings came. _"I'm not retreating anymore."_ she thought then ran over to Madara. "I'll be the diversion. So follow me!" she said.

"Wait!" Naruto said.

Sasuke and Naruto ran after Sakura.

When Sakura made it to Madara, he stabbed her in the chest with his staff in his right hand.

Kushina, Kakashi, and Naruto became surprised.

 _"Sakura-chan!"_ Naruto thought.

Sasuke activated his Chidori in his left hand.

Sakura tried to punch Madara with her right fist.

Madara started to remember Tsunade and her abilities. _"The same Mitotic Regeneration Jutsu as Hashirama's granddaughter."_ he thought.

Sakura became surprised. _"An invisible wall?! I can't reach him!"_ she thought.

Sasuke and Naruto tried to attack Madara but was pushed back by Madara who released his staff.

Naruto held Sakura, who still had the staff in her chest then placed her on the ground.

 _"What's happening?!"_ Kakashi thought.

Sakura was crouching down on the ground as Naruto removed the staff from Sakura's chest with his right hand and threw it away. "Sakura-chan..." he said, worried.

"Don't worry about me, Naruto." Sakura said then looked over at Sasuke. _"Sasuke-kun isn't even concerned about me..."_ she thought sadly. "I'm all right, so..."

Sakura's wound healed.

Sasuke, who opened his left eye again, looked at Naruto. "Naruto!" he said.

Sakura became surprised again.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Yeah, I know! There are more of them, right?" he asked.

"That left eye is a Rinnegan!" Sakura said.

Sasuke looked at Madara to see 4 Limbo Shadows. _"Madara's got 4 shadows now."_ he thought.

"Enough with this sideshow." Madara said then flew into the air.

Kushina, Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura watched Madara in the sky.

Madara raised his right arm before he activated the Catastrophic Planetary Devastation then he started to create multiples.

"What is he up to?" Kakashi asked.

Madara placed his hands together. _"Catastrophic Planetary Devastation!"_ he thought.

Large rocks from the ground started going up in the air and make multiple small planets.

"This is 6 Paths' power?" Sakura asked.

"He's way bigger than before and there's more of 'em..." Naruto said.

"Stop getting distracted by what's above! His shadows are on the ground with us!" Sasuke said.

"They're a bit more solid and larger than raindrops, but..." Madara said then commanded the multiple small planets to fall from the sky.

"Here they come!' Naruto said.

"The shadows as well!" Sasuke said.

Naruto placed his hands together. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he thought.

Naruto made 4 shadow clones.

"Leave them to me, dattebayo!" one of the 4 Naruto clones then they ran forward to Madara's 4 Limbo Clones.

Madara's 4 Limbo clones and Naruto's 4 Shadow clones battled each other.

"I guess I'll just record their final moments!" Black Zetsu said.

"Kurama..." Naruto said, raising his right hand.

"Yeah!" Yin Kurama said.

A Truth-Seeking Ball went to Naruto's right hand.

Sasuke activated his Complete Body Susano'o and flew into the sky. _"Susano'o!"_ he thought.

Naruto made a Tailed Beast Ball Rasenshuriken with his right hand. "Tailed Beast Bomb Rasen-Shuriken!" he said then threw it at one of the small planets as it destroyed in the air and one of them burst.

Kushina, Kakashi, and Sakura covered their faces with arms.

Kushina was suddenly flown backwards by the strong winds, yelling.

"Kushina-san!" Kakashi said.

Kushina landed a lot of meters away from them as the wind stopped.

Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o had swords in both of his hands as he used them to cut the small multiple planets.

 _"Damn it! There's no end to them!"_ Sasuke thought.

Kushina, Kakashi, and Sakura covered their faces with arms.

"Unbelievable..." Sakura said.

"Damn you!" one of them 4 Naruto clones said.

Madara looked up at the moon before he removed the plating from his forehead with his left hand. closing his eyes. _"According to that stone tablet. When the one who possesses the power of the Rinne, should draw near the moon... the eye that can reflect off of the moon, and grant the infinite dream, shall open."_ he thought then his forehead revealed a red Rinnegan that was the combination of a Sharingan and a Rinnegan.

The eye started to reflect on the moon.

"Shine upon the world... Infinite Tsukuyomi." Madara said then raised his right index and middle fingers to his face.

Karin, who was still running, looked up at the moon, surprised. "This can't be!" she said then ran faster as she looked forward. "I'm almost there!"

Sasuke stopped battling as he looked up at the moon. _"This is really bad."_ he thought then flew away.

"Finally, I made it." Karin said then she looked up to see Sasuke flying away. "Found him. Sasuke!"

Sasuke heard a voice to see Karin, making himself surprised. "Karin!" he said then flew down to Karin.

When Sasuke made it a few meters to Karin, he held out his arms for her to jump. Karin jumped high into the air towards Sasuke, who tightly grabbed her as his arms were wrapped around her waist. Karin wrapped her arms around Sasuke's neck. Sasuke's Susano'o flew away again.

As Sasuke's Susano'o was flying away, Karin looked into Sasuke's eyes and became surprised to see a Rinnegan in his left eye.

 _"Sasuke now has a Rinnegan?! How did this happen?!"_ Karin thought. _"It must've been when he came back to life."_

Naruto raised his right arm as he made his 7 Truth-Seeking Orbs bigger. "I'll pulverize all the meteorites with these next, so don't worry, dattebayo. You 2 stick close to me and stay still!" he said.

Sakura was now crouching down.

"Okay!" Sakura said.

 _"I have to make sure I don't hit Sasuke!"_ Naruto thought then he threw them into the air. "Go!" he said.

Naruto became surprised when Sasuke's Susano'o flew past the 7 Truth-Seeking Orbs.

The 7 Truth-Seeking Orbs destroyed the remaining small planets.

"Sasuke, don't head down here so suddenly!" Naruto said.

Sasuke's Susano'o landed right by Kakashi, Naruto, and Sakura before he kneeled down.

Naruto closed his eyes, raising his right fist. "Hey! Land more softly too!" he said.

"Just shut up and stay still!" Sasuke said.

Sasuke's Susano'o covered himself, Kakashi, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura with his wings.

Sasuke and Karin released each other as they stood next to one another.

"Karin?" Naruto asked.

"Oniisan." Karin said, looking at Naruto.

"Where's Kushina-san?" Kakashi asked.

Naruto became surprised as he started looking around for his mother.

Karin looked in the right direction as she sensed her Aunt Kushina. "She's over there!" she said. "Aunt Kushina, hurry up!"

Kushina looked over at Sasuke's Susano'o. "Right!" she said then she started to run over to them.

Large rocks crashed around them.

Madara smirked. "Now! Become one!" he said. "At last! The world of the Infinite Tsukuyomi is now here!"

After a moment, a bright white light appeared in the sky as it covered the world.

Kushina stopped running as she continued move her body as her eyes looked like the Rinnegan now.

"Aunt Kushina?!" Karin asked, confused.

"Mom!" Naruto said.

"Oh no, it's starting already!" Karin said.

"This light can penetrate and see through even shadows... No one can hide from it... And now..." Madara said then placed his hands together. "Divine... Deep Forest Emergence!"

Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura saw large greyish-green tree branches appeared from under the ground and started to wrap Kushina in it's vines.

"Mom!" Naruto said.

"Aunt Kushina!" Karin said then tried to run towards her but stopped when Sasuke placed his right hand on her left shoulder. She looked at Sasuke.

"Don't go out there. You'll get caught in it too." Sasuke said then released his right hand from Karin's left shoulder.

Karin looked over at Kushina, who was now completely wrapped up in the vines. _"Aunt Kushina."_ she thought.

 _"Naruto-kun!"_ Hinata thought.

Naruto suddenly heard Hinata's voice.

Naruto became surprised before he walked over to the left side only to be stopped by Sasuke, who placed his left hand on his right shoulder. He looked at Sasuke.

"Naruto, don't do it right now!" Sasuke said then released Naruto.

Karin looked at Sasuke and Naruto.

Black Zetsu became confused. _"The light can't penetrate that Susano'o? His Rinnegan can counter even this jutsu?"_ he thought.

"Don't go outside right now. Without this Susano'o that my eye made, you'd get bound up in his genjutsu as well! Also his shadows are outside... If you and I fall, it's all over! We need to ride our time." Sasuke said.

Naruto turned to Sasuke before he looked down.

Sakura stood up.

"Let the world of dreams now begin... A world without abysmal chakra!" Madara said.

...

2 minutes later.

"Are they inside? Blocking the light with the Susano'o?" Black Zetsu asked.

Sakura looked up at the Susano'o as her left hand was near her stomach and her right hand was on her chest. "What's going on outside right now?" she asked then looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke looked at Sakura. "What difference will it make, knowing that?" he asked.

Naruto became annoyed.

"There is nothing you can do right now." Sasuke said.

Sakura looked sadly down at the ground.

Kakashi looked up at Sasuke. "Sasuke... That's not the point. Naruto and I also want to know. In order to analyze our next move, Sakura is..." he said.

Sasuke looked down at Kakashi. "Kakashi... You're being just like Sakura now. Just be quiet for a bit." he said.

Naruto raised his fist near his chest. "Hey, Sasuke! We need to work as a team! Team 7 needs to work together to bring Madara down, dattebayo!" he said.

"You're right. There's nothing I can do right now..." Kakashi said.

Naruto lowered his arms as he looked at Kakashi. "Kakashi-Sensei!" he said.

"If you can analyze what's outside with your left eye, Sasuke... you should be the one to lead Team 7's 5-man squad." Kakashi said.

"Huh?!" Naruto asked then pointed his right index finger at Sasuke. "I doubt he's better at planning than either you, Karin, or Sakura-chan! Although he may be better than me..." he said.

Sasuke looked down. "Anyway... Madara has activated his jutsu. It's a powerful genjutsu. I suspect everyone outside has fallen under its spell." he said.

Naruto lowered his right arm.

Sasuke looked up. "We might be the only ones left unaffected." he said.

Naruto looked at Karin. "Karin, since you're now an official member of Team 7, what do you think?" he asked.

Karin looked at Naruto then placed her right hand on her right hip. "Sasuke's right. I sensed outside and other than us and Obito, everyone's under the Infinite Tsukuyomi. I also sensed that the 3 former Hokages aren't affected because they're reanimation." she said.

Kakashi looked at the left side. "The Infinite Tsukuyomi, huh?" he questioned.

"So right about now, everyone's..." Naruto said, looking at Sasuke.

Sakura stopped looking down.

"Inside a dream." Sasuke said.

As mostly everyone was in the genjutsu of the Infinite Tsukuyomi, Hinata was dreaming that she was in a relationship with Naruto Uzumaki with Neji Hyūga is also alive and watching her from afar with Hanabi Hyūga, Kiba was dreaming that he was Hokage as he uses his position to declare a national holiday for dogs and all citizens of the village are to have a dog as a pet/partner, Shino dreams that he discovered and tamed a giant new insect species, Choji dreams that he has a girlfriend who feeds him and loves him for his appetite, Shikamaru dreams decides to never get married with Temari as Asuma and Shikaku are also alive and enjoying their respective families, Ino dreams that Sasuke and Sai were fighting over her with Inoichi Yamanaka is alive and proud of her, Lee dreams that he defeated Naruto and Neji in a fight as he wins the love of Sakura, Sai dreams that he learned to properly express himself again and the entire village came to admire his smile, Kankuro dreams that he created the ultimate puppet that is a giant transforming robot, Temari dreams that she is respected by her siblings so much, they constantly ask for her advice, Tenten dreams that she was a member of a complete and mature Team Guy, Tsunade dreams that she lives in a Konoha where none of her loved ones died and none of her friends turned against the village while Dan became the Hokage, Yamato dreams that he becomes the official leader of Team 7 (which includes Sasuke) and is respected throughout Konoha, Killer B dreams that goes on an adventure with his fellow jinchūriki and their tailed beasts, saving a princess from Akatsuki, the Mizukage dreams that she gets married, with the other Kage Chōjūrō and Ao attending the ceremony, and Gaara dreams that had a happy childhood with his parents, siblings, and uncle and he gets to play with Naruto whenever he wants.

"So when can we get outta here?" Naruto asked.

Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura looked up.

"It seems the genjutsu runs on moonlight. Which will gradually wane. But as long as there's light, it's useless." Sasuke said.

"Damn it!" Naruto said.

Everyone but Naruto stopped looking up.

"Then I guess it will take awhile." Karin said, removing her right arm as she lowered it.

Sasuke started to think about Itachi again then looked down. _"Back then, Itachi told me and Karin about the discord between the Hidden Leaf, the Uchiha, and the Uzumaki... but that wasn't all."_ he thought then closed his eyes. _"These aren't just memories... It's Itachi's knowledge, his thoughts, his suffering..."_ then remembered Itachi again before he opened his eyes again. "It's everything that Itachi Uchiha the shinobi was..." then looked up again.

Karin looked at Sasuke, concerned. "Sasuke?" she thought.

Sakura lowered her arms.

"Madara... Don't talk about the Uchiha. The only one who has that right is my Big Brother." Sasuke thought then started to remember the other memories that Itachi showed him and Karin. "I've made my mind, Niisan..." then stopped looking up.

The bright white light faded away until it was dark again.

Madara looked down at Sasuke's Susano'o. "All that's left... is them." he said.

Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o stopped protecting them as it disappeared.

Kakashi stood up as he, Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura looked at Madara. From left to right were Naruto, Sasuke, Karin, Sakura, and Kakashi.

"So it really didn't let the light through..." Black Zetsu said.

"Finally..." Sasuke said.

"Looks like it didn't affect that black one." Naruto said then looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke! What do we do to release everyone from the genjutsu?!"

"Rinnegan genjutsu can be dealt with using Rinnegan, probably." Sasuke said.

"Which means we need Sasuke's left eye." Kakashi said.

"I won't let that happen. All that's left to do is to get rid of you guys..." Black Zetsu said.

Madara now crouched down on the ground. "Which I, the savior of the world will do." he said.

Naruto looked at Madara. "Madara!" he said.

Sakura held her right hand to her chest. "The eye on his forehead!" she said.

"It looks different from the Rinnegan." Karin said.

Sasuke looked at everyone. "Be careful. We're surrounded in all directions by 4 of his Shadows." he said then looked forward.

Naruto looked at Sasuke again. "I know that!" he said then looked forward.

"Shadows?" Karin asked.

"I won't allow you to do anything further. I just severed the Karmic Cycle of this world. I have freed mankind from their suffering pain and their futility." Madara said, standing up.

"But all this... is just a lie!" Naruto said.

"Naruto, you're the one who's interfering with everyone's happiness. Just look at this world now. All fighting between shinobi has ceased. I've transformed he'll into heaven. I've finally corrected Hashirama's mistake." Madara said.

"What mistake?" Karin asked, serious.

"What do you mean by the First Hokage-sama's 'mistake'?" Sakura asked.

"You Hidden Leaf may not want to acknowledge it, but Hashirama ultimately failed in reforming the Shinobi World. In the beginning, both Hashirama and I had the same goals. And we worked together. We tried to change the Shinobi world that sent out barely grown children out of war. The 2 of us created the shinobi village. However, that does not result in true peace. People cannot show each other their true feelings. Fear, suspicion, and resentment... never subside. My opinions were pushed aside and the Shinobi World moved forward in accordance with Hashirama's vision. And what happened because of it? The fighting between shinobi hasn't stopped. Rather than ceasing, establishing ninja villages led to an increase in their military built-up, which resulted in battles that turned into great wars... with countless lives lost. The battling in what became the First Great Ninja War... The Second Great Ninja War... The Third Great Ninja War... The fighting never stopped. That is Hashirama's legacy to the Shinobi World. Although I admit that I triggered this Fourth Great Ninja War..." Madara asked.

"That's right! Because of you, so many people died!" Sakura said.

Black Zetsu and Obito stepped closer to Madara from behind.

"I did make a proposition to peacefully hand over the Tailed Beasts. Right now, everyone is inside the Divine Tree. Each of them, dreaming their own idyllic dreams. They are in their own ideal world's." Madara said.

"Is this your idea of a perfect world? You're just deceiving people." Sasuke asked.

"I just want to be the savior that ends the long history of fighting amongst shinobi. Just know this... It's all over." Madara said

Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura became surprised when Black Zetsu came behind Madara and stabbed him in the chest with Obito's left arm.

Madara became shocked.

"You're wrong, Madara. You are not the savior... Nor is this the end of things..." Black Zetsu said.

Madara looked at Black Zetsu on the left side. "I can't... move..." he thought.

"What's going on?" Sakura asked.

"He suddenly stab Madara." Karin said.

"How can you say that you, unlike Obito, are able to completely take advantage of others? Isn't that presumptuous to think that you alone are different? My dear Madara... You have also been inside a phantom dream... Inside a dream that I concocted." Black Zetsu asked.

"Black Zetsu... What are you saying? I created you. You are my will incarnate!" Madara asked.

"Wrong again... My will is... Kaguya's!" Black Zetsu said.

"What the hell is going on, dattebayo?" Naruto asked.

"They're having a falling out, at this stage in the game?" Kakashi asked.

"No, that's not it. He mentioned Kaguya." Sasuke said.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Huh? Kaguya?" he asked.

Karin looked at Sasuke. "Who" she asked.

Sakura looked at Sasuke. "What is it?" she asked.

"The one the Sage of the 6 Paths mentioned." Sasuke said.

Naruto suddenly remembered Hagoromo telling him that then looked forward. "No way..." he said.

Karin and Sakura looked forward again.

Karin suddenly sensed the chakras from all of the shinobi were being absorbed from the vines. "This can't be...!" she thought.

Madara screamed in agony as he was being turned into something.

Sasuke noticed that Madara's 4 Limbo Shadows are disappearing.

"What's up with this guy, dattebayo? This chakra is ridiculous!" Naruto asked.

"All Madara's shadows that were surrounding us have disappeared! Something's about to happen!" Sasuke said.

Karin suddenly sensed the chakra underground.

The ground cracked before the chakra emerged.

"It's chakra!" Sasuke said.

Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura were lifted from the ground as all of the chakra went to Madara.

Black Zetsu laughed.

Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura landed on the ground again.

"Is he absorbing all the chakra that's erupting from the ground?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes, he is." Karin said.

"Where is all this thick potent chakra coming from?" Sakura asked.

"It's probably from everyone trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi!" Sasuke said.

Madara continued to scream in agony.

"This is really bad, Sasuke! This chakra is much stronger than 10 Tails'!" Naruto said.

"Stop them before they move!" Sasuke said then lifted his left hand as he made a Chidori Blade. "Go, Naruto!"

"You mean while they're still swelling up, right?" Naruto asked then a black staff appeared and grabbed it with his right hand and ran forward.

Sasuke teleported near Madara before he was suddenly being wrapped up in hair with Naruto.

"Like 2 moths flying into the flame... I'm going to absorb all the chakra out of the 2 of you right now." Black Zetsu said.

"Damn it!" Naruto said.

"Oniisan! Sasuke!" Karin said.

Karin and Sakura started to run forward but stopped when Kakashi stood in front of them.

"Don't, Sakura! Karin!" Kakashi said.

"But!" Sakura said.

"How are we suppose to help them?!" Karin asked.

"Action without a plan is meaningless." Kakashi said.

"Damn it!" Naruto said. "I can't move!" he thought. "Sasuke! If we don't stop him now... He'll drain everyone else's chakra before ours and they'll all die!"

"Don't worry, no one is going to die. Even when Kaguya previously cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi upon the populace, she kept them alive and preserved... in order to form them into her soldiers." Black Zetsu said.

"'Form'? What do you mean?!" Sasuke asked.

Black Zetsu started to get off of Obito. "You seem to be denser than Itachi. How can one use ordinary people in combat?" he asked.

Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura became surprised.

"You're not saying that-!" Kakashi said.

"She converted them into White Zetsu. What's left of those who were under the previous Infinite Tsukuyomi... That's what White Zetsu are. They've been transformed ever so slowly over time." Black Zetsu said.

"Are you saying everyone's gonna turn into those white things?!" Naruto asked.

"What are you saying, Black Zetsu? The Infinite Tsukuyomi is an Uchiha Jutsu! One that brings eternal peace to the shinobi world." Madara asked.

"And what do you based that on?" Black Zetsu asked.

"The Sage of the 6 Paths... carved that into the stone tablet." Madara said.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"My dear Madara... I have been around for eons longer than you. Since finding the stone tablet left by Hagoromo, I've had quite some time to make revisions." Black Zetsu said.

"Did you say 'revisions'?" Madara asked.

"The Infinite Tsukuyomi is not a jutsu that confers peaceful dreams. It is a jutsu to amass enormous amounts of chakra from individuals enslaved in it." Black Zetsu said.

"For what purpose?" Madara asked.

"You acted merely for that purpose. According to my... rather, Kaguya's will." Black Zetsu said.

"I wouldn't! For that?!" Madara asked.

"Just as you used Obito as a pawn... You too, were merely a pawn." Black Zetsu said.

Madar started to puff out.

"Hey! Look at how big he swelled up!" Naruto said.

"He's bloated because his body can't tolerate the amount of chakra he absorbed! At this rate, he's going to explode!" Sasuke said.

"Why? Why did this happen-? Hashirama... Where... did I go wrong?" Madara thought.

Madara transformed into a woman as it shrinked.

"He's shrinking?!" Sakura asked.

Obito fell on the ground on his back.

"Obito!" Kakashi said.

The woman, who looked to be in her early 20s, had pale-skin with delicate facial features, extremely long, sweeping grey hair that dragged across the ground, featureless lavender eyes as she had the Byakugan, eyebrows were cut very short and round, fingernails were long and black, two brown horns that stuck out from her head and a Rinne-Sharingan formed in the center of her forehead, in her usual outfit, red shade of lipstick on her lips, a white high-collared hime-kimono which has tomoe running down the centre and edges of the gown, adorned with intricate gold and purple lines.

Everyone became surprised.

"Isn't she the one Super Gramps talked about?" Naruto asked.

"Kaguya... Otsutsuki!" Sasuke said.

Kaguya opened her eyes.

Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura continued to be surprised as Kaguya now held Sasuke and Naruto with her hair.

Kaguya looked at Sasuke and Naruto's hands to see the marks Hagoromo had given them before she tossed them away from her.

Kakashi, Karin, and Sakura became surprised as Sasuke and Naruto fell on the ground.

Kaguya started to use her hair as weapons to attack Sasuke and Naruto but they stood up. Sasuke activated Chidori with his left hand as he cut some of Katsuyu's hair with it and dodged them. After a moment, Sasuke became covered in Kaguya's hair.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said then he was suddenly covered in Kaguya's hair and was tossed a few meters behind Kakashi, Karin, and Sakura.

Kakashi, Karin, and Sakura watched as Sasuke and Naruto were tossed a few meters behind them into a small wall.

"Oniisan! Sasuke!" Karin said.

"Sasuke-kun! Naruto!" Sakura said.

Karin and Sakura froze in fear as they felt Kaguya near them as they looked at Kaguya, who floated passed them to Sasuke and Naruto.

 _"The way they are currently, those 2 can manage... But Karin and Sakura... Don't you 2 make any careless moves right now!"_ Kakashi thought.

"These 2... are Hagoromo and Hamura's... No, rather they're... Indra and Ashura's..." Kaguya said then used her Byakugan to see Sasuke and Naruto's chakras to see a power on their hands. "So it was Hagoromo who gave them the jutsu..."

Sasuke and Naruto were crouching down as they looked at Kaguya.

 _"What is Oniisan and Sasuke going to do?"_ Karin thought.

 _"Sasuke-kun! Naruto! Thank goodness!"_ Sakura thought then looked at Kaguya again, holding her arms near her chest. _"Who is she? And why did Madara suddenly become her?"_

 _"This chakra is far greater than Madara's... I can't believe such a person ever existed."_ Sasuke thought then remembered something from the past. _"Hagoromo knew she would appear, that's why he entrusted us with-"_

Kakashi behind himself to see Obito. _"Obito..."_ he thought then looked forward again.

"What are your intentions?" Kakashi asked.

"Ninshu... No, you said shinobi... It's futile to speak to you about that, when all you do is just tamper with chakra, without knowing it's true meaning. This place, this land... is my precious nursery. I cannot let it be damaged further. Let us stop fighting..." Kaguya said.

Everyone became surprised.

"Then..." Naruto said.

"Here that is..." Kaguya said.

Everyone was suddenly transported a place that had rocks, volcanoes, and lava as they started to fall.

"I shall erase... You all here..." Kaguya said, floating in the air.

Naruto yelled.

"No way!" Sakura said.

 _"Is that lava below? Is this a genjutsu? No... This feels... different!"_ Kakashi thought.

 _"This is not a genjutsu! Is this really the end?!"_ Karin thought.

Sasuke bit his right thumb as some blood came out before he raised his right index, middle, and thumb. "Summoning Jutsu!" he said then he summoned his hawk as he landed on his back.

"Sasuke! Over there!" Naruto said, pointing to where Kakashi, Karin, and Sakura were at.

Sasuke used his hawk, Garuda to quickly fly over there and get Karin as he grabbed her waist with both hands and placed her on her stomach on Garuda.

Karin looked up at Sasuke, surprised. _"What?!"_ she thought.

Sasuke flew back over to Naruto and Garuda grabbed Naruto's arms with its talons.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "What're you doing? Help the others too, not just Karin!" he asked.

Naruto and Karin looked to see Kakashi grabbing a scroll attached kunai to the rock wall with his left hand while holding Sakura by her waist with his right arm.

"How did you...?" Naruto asked then looked up at Sasuke.

"Kakashi tied one end of a scroll onto a kunai and used it like a rope." Sasuke said then looked back. "For Obito, he just pinned him to the wall with a kunai, however..."

Obito's left hand was stabbed to the rock wall with his left hand with a kunai.

Karin sighed in relief.

Naruto smiled. "Way to go, Kakashi-Sensei!" he said.

 _"Obito... Sorry for being rough with you..."_ Kakashi thought.

Sakura's Forehead Protector slid off of her head. "Oh!" she said as it fell into the lava below, melting.

"It wasn't a genjutsu, after all..." Kakashi said then looked at Kaguya. " _Don't tell me... She summoned a different dimension?"_ he thought.

Naruto was now sitting on Sasuke's hawk next to Sasuke and Karin.

Kaguya looked at Sasuke and Naruto.

"Eyes forward, Naruto." Sasuke said.

Naruto stopped smiling as he looked at Kaguya.

"Naruto... I'm going to be frank with you..." Sasuke said.

Naruto and Karin looked at Sasuke.

"This world will come to an end if either one of us dies. Only your 6 Paths Power of the Light Style and my 6 Paths Power of the Shadow Style, can seal away that being in front of us." Sasuke said, showing Naruto his left palm for a moment.

Naruto looked at his right palm for a moment.

"If we don't succeed, mankind will perish. We can't afford to die, no matter what... When the Infinite Tsukuyomi was launched... Kakashi and Sakura just happened to be near you... That's just how it is. You understand what that means, right?" Sasuke questioned.

Karin looked at Kakashi and Sakura to see Sakura making a sad face while looking down.

"I know." Naruto said.

Sakura became surprised.

"I get what you're saying and I know that you're right. You didn't leave Karin and she wasn't near us." Naruto said.

Karin looked at Naruto as Sasuke stayed silent.

"But... is also a situation when your body just moves on its own... Like that time on the bridge." Naruto said then remembered something from the past.

Sasuke continued to stay silent as he remembered the past.

Naruto smiled again. "Well, never mind. I know that you get what I mean, Sasuke. After all, you rescued Karin 2 times from what I know.." he said.

Karin looked at Sasuke.

Sakura started to cry. _"Sasuke-kun's right. Back then... Maybe Sasuke-kun acted subconsciously... But he still rescued Karin from danger."_ she thought as she wiped her tears away from her eyes with her left eye. _"Even so... Thank you... Naruto."_ Sakura thought.

Kakashi's scroll started to burn. "Damn it!" he said then he and Sakura fell.

Naruto and Karin looked to see Kakashi and Sakura falling.

"Oh no!" Karin said.

 _"Damn it!"_ Naruto thought, using his Sage Mode power to catch Kakashi and Sakura with his left hand, who released the scroll.

Kaguya fired hair needles at Sasuke, Naruto, and Karin, using her Byakugan.

Karin watched as Sasuke summoned his left Susano'o arm to block Kaguya's attack.

The scroll fell in the lava as it burned.

"Now's our chance!" Naruto said then pulled Kakashi and Sakura up.

Some of the hair needles hit Garuda's left wing.

Sasuke looked at his hawk. _"Byakugan! Damn it! My hawk's Chakra Points have been hit!"_ he thought then crouched down as he held Karin by the waist with both arms.

Karin held Sasuke with both hands as Garuda started to fall from the air.

 _"This calls for Susano'o!"_ Sasuke thought then looked behind Karin at his left arm to see a hair needles pierced in it.

Naruto suddenly levitated in the air as he held Kakashi and Sakura in his left hand, Sasuke and Karin in his right hand, and Garuda in his extra right hand.

Karin lifted her face up from Sasuke's chest and looked around to see that she wasn't in the lava before she looked up at Naruto.

"Naruto, you-?!" Kakashi said then looked up at Naruto.

"Huh?" Sakura asked.

"You can levitate?" Kakashi asked.

Garuda disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Karin looked where Sasuke's hawk used to be. "Get some rest,Garuda." she said.

Naruto looked at Kakashi.

 _"That's right... Madara, when he was enhanced by 6 Paths' chakra, also levitated..."_ Kakashi thought.

Naruto smiled for a moment before he put his hands together. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" he said then he made a shadow clone. He pulled them up until they were at his level.

"Take care of Sakura-chan, Karin, and Kakashi-Sensei." Naruto said, handing Kakashi and Sakura over to his shadow clone with his left hand.

The Naruto clone grabbed Kakashi with his right hand and Sakura with his left hand.

Sasuke, who now had the hair needle removed from his left arm and activated his left Susano'o arm again, looked down at Karin. "Karin, you have to go with the clone now." he said.

Karin looked up at Sasuke for a moment before she looked down, sighing. "Alright." she said.

Sakura became sad when she saw Sasuke showing affection for Karin.

Kaguya started to think about her son, Hagoromo. _"6 Paths' Chakra... You act triumphantly just because you have a special accoutrement. However... No matter what kind of chakra..."_ she thought. "All chakra belongs to me and me alone." she said.

Sasuke was about to hand Karin over to Naruto's shadow clone, Karin suddenly saw Kaguya coming towards them fast.

"Once more... I shall reunify all chakra!" Kaguya said.

Karin pointed at Kaguya with her left index finger. "She's coming!" she said.

Sasuke and Naruto looked behind them to see Kaguya.

Naruto used the 6 Paths Power to defend himself, Sasuke, and Karin from Kaguya.

Everyone covered their faces with their arms because of the strong winds. Kaguya and Naruto attacked each other simultaneously as Naruto yelled. Kaguya pushed Naruto back, making him spin in the air.

 _"Sasuke! Now!"_ Naruto thought.

Sasuke still had his left arm wrapped around Karin's waist, who still held him with both arms, as he raised his right index, middle, and thumb fingers before he summoned his Susano'o and fired 2 arrows before he used his Rinnegan for him and Karin to switch places with them above before he summoned his Complete Body Susano'o around them.

Karin gasped in surprise.

Sasuke's Complete Body went down to attack Kaguya, who held up her left hand. Sasuke and Karin became surprised when Kaguya melted Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o swords with her left hand. Sasuke quickly wrapped his arms around Karin protectively before a large explosion and winds happened around them.

The explosion and strong wind disappeared as Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o disappeared as they started to fall.

Karin yelled.

Naruto continued to spin. "Sasuke! Karin!" he said. _"Damn it! I can't stop!"_ he thought.

Karin watched as Sasuke's sword fell into the lava. "Sasuke! Your sword got destroyed in the lava." she said.

"I'll get another one." Sasuke said.

As Naruto continued to spin, Sasuke suddenly hit Naruto in the back with his right elbow, which made him stop. Sasuke grabbed Naruto's left foot with his left hand as he held Karin protectively with his right hand, who still wrapped her arms around his waist.

Naruto looked down at Sasuke and Karin. "Sasuke! Karin!" he said.

"Even Susano'o doesn't work." Sasuke said.

"What are your next plans?" Karin asked.

Sasuke and Naruto stayed silent.

When Naruto's shadow clone made it to Obito, he grabbed him with his Sage Powered left arm.

"Let's get Obito while we still have the chance." Naruto's shadow clone said, releasing Obito from the kunai.

"I forgot that you could use Teleportation-like Jutsu now." Naruto said, smiling for a moment as he summoned 2 Truth-Seeking Orbs to Sasuke and Karin. "You 2 had me worried there!"

The 2 Truth-Seeking Orbs turned into foot-holds before Sasuke and Karin stepped on them.

"It's like this foothold. We've both been fitted from 6 Paths' power." Sasuke said, releasing Karin.

"Thanks, Oniisan." Karin said.

Sasuke looked at Kaguya. "But having received it is meaningless unless we seal her away." he said.

Naruto stopped smiling as he looked at Kaguya. "Yeah!" he said.

Karin, who was now in between Sasuke and Naruto, looked at Kaguya.

"Karin, stay close and don't attack." Sasuke said.

The 3 of them didn't know that a Yomotsu Hirasaka as they watched Kaguya go into one as they felt a dark aura behind them and they turned around to see Kaguya behind them, making them surprised.

Kaguya raised her arms as she placed her left on the right side of Naruto's right cheek and her right hand on Sasuke's left cheek.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Karin watched as Kaguya was now crying.

Kaguya started to remember her 2 sons, Hagoromo and Hamura. _"My children, with whom I shared my chakra..."_ she thought.

 _"I can't move..."_ Naruto thought.

 _"Now... come to your mother..."_ Kaguya thought.

Kaguya suddenly placed Black Zetsu on the right side of Sasuke and the left side of Naruto.

Karin stayed still.

"She's taking... our chakra, Sasuke!" Naruto said.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Karin suddenly heard Black Zetsu's voice.

"Kaguya seems to see her 2 children... when she looks at the 2 of you. Isn't that sweet? She, who was sealed away by her own children. Such a poor, pitiable mother..." Black Zetsu asked.

"What?!" Karin asked.

"Why'd 6 Paths Super Gramps seal away his own mom? I thought he sealed away 10 Tails..." Naruto asked.

"It appears you have the wrong idea..." Black Zetsu said.

"Just who and what are you, Black Zetsu?" Sasuke asked.

"I am Kaguya's child." Black Zetsu said.

Karin became confused. "Huh?" she asked.

"What?!" Sasuke asked. _"His aura seems different, all of a sudden..."_ he thought.

"I recorded everything that happened while Mother was gone. And molded it as well. The tale of shinobi... is the tale of restoring Mother." Black Zetsu said.

"Huh?! What're you talking about?! What do you mean, dattebayo?!" Naruto asked.

"Since you know Mother's name, you must have met Hagoromo." Black Zetsu said.

Kaguya moved back a little bit then stopped.

"I knew that it was possible, depending on the power of the reincarnates. As well as receiving the power to seal away Mother..." Black Zetsu said.

"But we're gonna seal away the 10 Tails!" Naruto said.

"It's rare to see the reincarnates of Indra and Ashura cooperating this closely. You 2 know nothing. Let me tell you her tale while I suck out all of your chakra. Like I told you earlier... Mother was sealed away previously by own children. Apparently, it was an extremely powerful seal... The jutsu transformed 10 Tails into a Catastrophic Planetary Devastation core... and turned it into the moon. But just before the seal took hold, she gave birth to me. In order that she could one day be restored. I shall now show you 2 all of that... I don't have any candy, but the puppet show is about to begin." Black Zetsu said.

Karin placed her left hand on Sasuke's left shoulder to see what Black Zetsu was talking about. She started to see what Black Zetsu was showing Sasuke and Naruto.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Karin began to see a meteorite crashed on the site of impact, a tree grew. Kaguya arriving on earth years later. Kaguya meeting her lover, who was the Emperor of the Land of Ancestors, and making friends with Aino. War between Land of That and the Land of Ancestors. Kaguya's lover turning on her and the army killing Aino after trying to inform them of Kaguya's pregnancy. And Kaguya eating the God Tree's chakra fruit, acquiring the Rinne Sharingan, casting the Infinite Tsukuyomi, and binding those caught in it in the roots of the God Tree.

"Mother loved this world. She tried to love humans. But her wish was dashed so she ate the fruit of the Divine Tree to try to protect her children. However... Mother's real tale of despair begins from here... Shortly afterwards, Mother gave birth to twins. They were... Hagoromo and Hamura." Black Zetsu said.

Kaguya continued to cry.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Karin continued to watch as Hagoromo and Hamura wonder about their mother, Kaguya and resolving a problem between people. Hagoromo and Hamura meeting Gamamaru and explains to them about the God Tree. Information about Kaguya and the God Tree. Hagoromo and Hamura ask Kaguya to end the practice after Haori does it, but she refuses. Hagoromo and Hamura deciding to go beyond the peak after Kaguya leaves temporarily, finding countless people bounded in the roots of the God Tree. and a deceased Haori, which greatly disturbed Hagoromo, and Hagoromo's eyes changed into the Sharingan. Meeting with Gamamaru again, who takes them to Mount Myōboku, where Hagoromo and Hamura can feel Sage power. Gamamaru showing them the history of the God Tree, how it came into the world, how Kaguya appeared and gained the God Tree's power and how she revived some of the people she put under the Infinite Tsukuyomi and erased their memories. Gamamaru telling them of his prophecy, and trains Hagoromo, who quickly picks up Sage power. Kaguya returning to the village, and questions Hamura on Hagoromo's whereabouts. He lied to her, but Kaguya isn't deceived, and flaunted her power to intimidate Hamura. Hagoromo finishes his training at Mount Myōboku. Hagoromo and Hamura battling 10 Tails and Kaguya before sealing them away. Hagoromo splitting the Ten-Tails into nine tailed beasts. Hamura departed to the moon to watch over his mother.

"And that is how Hagoromo and Hamura's battle with my mother Kaguya began. This is where the real battle started. Mother had the power of the Divine Tree. In order to protect Mother, the Divine Tree turned into the 10 Tails. The 10 Tails was not just the Divine Tree, but also my mother herself. It was not just the manifestation of the Divine Tree trying to take back chakra... It was the will of my mother trying to take back the chakra she had shared with her 2 sons. The intense fighting between my mother and the brothers continued for months. It took a massive toll on the land. And at long last, the decisive moment came to be. Hagoromo and Hamura's powers overcame Mother's. Mother gathered up every ounce of energy she had left, and just before the seal took hold, she gave birth to me." Black Zetsu said.

"You... came out of her?" Naruto asked.

"Even Hagoromo did not know of this truth... Nor was he aware that I was working on her behalf to restore her... And that's how the battle between my mother and the brothers ended. But I was left, with no power at all. That is why I went deep into the darkness, and carefully planned my mother's revival. In the meantime, Hagoromo was ignorant of all of this and raised Indra and Ashura. He even created that Nishu, Ninja Creed nonsense. Time passed and Hagoromo died... And just before passing away, he scattered the Tailed Beasts to various parts of this world. 2 things are required to revive Mother... The Divine Tree and Infinite Tsukuyomi by means of Rinnegan. But the Rinnegan requires Hagoromo's chakra, which he passed on to Indra and Ashura. And the Tailed Beasts, which form the 10 Tails, were scattered across the world. In order to bring Mother back, all of these things had to be collected. You can't imagine the amount of time that was required to do this. So first of all, in order to regain Hagoromo's chakra, I took advantage of Indra who lost the fight over succession. I tempted Indra. And later, I selected Indra's descendants, the Uchiha to be the cast of my tale. I revised the stupid script that Hagoromo wrote just a little bit." Black Zetsu said.

Karin looked at Sasuke to see that his eyes widened.

"You mean...?!" Sasuke asked.

"That's right. Hagoromo's Stone Tablet... I rewrote it to say the Infinite Tsukuyomi was the path to save the Uchiha. I must say... You Uchiha performed your parts brilliantly." Black Zetsu said.

"Why you-!" Sasuke said.

Karin looked back at Black Zetsu.

"Indra and the Uchiha. Ashura and the Senju. I was able to set up a pattern of fighting and power seeking. Furthermore, time after time, I'd approached the reincarnate of Indra and Ashura in each clan... to attempt Rinnegan manifestation. But it always ended in failure. Just with that alone, a 1000 years passed. But when Madara Uchiha and Hashirama were reincarnated, I came to believe... that Madara could achieve it. That this was the first step towards Mother's revival. However... Madara Uchiha lost to Hashirame Senju... I thought I had to go back to the drawing board. But Fate did not turn her back on me... Madara's corpse is like a treasure trove to a shinobi. Tobirama, who had been studying the mysteries of the Sharingan, stopped short of disposing his corpse. And instead, his Madara deep within the mountains of the Leaf Village. But Madara was no fool... He figured that if he lost to Senju in battle, Tobirama would not get rid of his body. So he placed a jutsu on himself. You can invoke a time-delay spell in one's eye, using the Mangekyo Sharingan." Black Zetsu said.

 _"The Izanagi."_ Karin thought then she suddenly sensed Sasuke and Naruto get a little bit weaker. _"Oh no!"_

"Just like the way Itachi implanted the Amaterasu with a time delay in you, Sasuke. Madara had installed the Izanagi in his right eye. At the cost of his right eye, Madara rewrote reality and returned to life. He then passed off a shadow clone as his corpse. He vomited the flesh he bit off of Hashirama, and grafted it on his wound. After that, Madara awakened his Rinnegan... and summoned the Gedo Statue. He then cultured Hashirama's flesh using the Gedo Statue, in an attempt to prolong his life further. Those goblins, the White Zetsu, seemed to be an incidental by-product of that. But they were actually the people put under the last Infinite Tsukuyomi, whom I extracted from the statue. I just made it look that way. '2 polar opposites operating together gives rise to all things in this universe.' Just as it was inscribed in the Stone Tablet, Madara solified his attachment to Hashirma. I began formulating a plan... to collect the Tailed Beasts by making it look like I was born out of Madara, and to also manipulate Obito. I formed the Akatsuki and steered them towards war. In order to increase battle strength, I deliberately let Kabuto discover Madara's corpse... And in addition, I guided him to use Madara's corpse as a bargaining chip, and made Obito cooperate. This war went exactly as I planned. The Infinite Tsukuyomi launched during this war... And by amassing a large amount of the human chakra that had been scattered... Mother was restored." Black Zetsu said.

"I... detest you... Hagoromo... Hamura... You... are mine." Kaguya said, activating her Byakuya again.

"My role has come to an end. You shall return with me to the almighty god that is Mother." Black Zetsu said.

"You 2 aren't..." Naruto said.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Naruto.

"You 2 alone aren't the entirety of shinobi history!" Naruto said then broke away from Black Zetsu then grabbed the part of Black Zetsu that was grabbing Sasuke with his right hand. "Besides... moms are supposed to be happy about their kids leaving the nest!" then freed Sasuke. "That's what being a mom means!"

Sasuke and Karin looked back at Kaguya and Black Zetsu.

"Your teenage rebellion continues. Mother is the very progenitor of chakra. You brats can't hope to accomplish anything." Black Zetsu said, crawling into Kaguya's sleeves.

"Naruto, we need to make an opening, so we can launch the Sealing Jutsu." Sasuke said.

"Yeah! And the only thing that will work... is that jutsu!" Naruto said.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Naruto again.

"'That' Jutsu?" Sasuke asked.

"Yeah..." Naruto said.

"What are you talking you, Oniisan?" Karin asked.

"Sasuke, Karin. Hear me out." Naruto said.

"I don't know what you're scheming, but Mother absorbs all jutsu. Your actions are meaningless." Black Zetsu said.

"How is it going?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura looked at Kakashi for a moment before she looked back at the scene. "Looks like they're just staring each other down." she said.

"I see..." Kakashi said. _"The power to forcefully drag us all into this dimension, that isn't genjutsu... This is on a totally different scale."_ he thought, looking down at the lava before he looked back at the scene. _"She's like... a god."_

Sakura looked at the Naruto clone. "How do you plan on fighting someone like that, Naruto?" she asked.

The Naruto clone smiled. "This could be the end..." he said then placed his right hand on Obito's chest. "But we gotta give our best shot. Just like we've been doing all along, right?" then healed Obito.

Obito started to wake up.

"Are you serious?" Sasuke asked.

"This can't be true, right?" Karin asked.

"We won't know unless we try. I've been secretly practicing this jutsu even more than the Rasengan, dattebayo?! It's worth giving it a shot, right?" Naruto asked.

 _"It must be very powerful for Oniisan to practice it more than the Rasengan..."_ Karin thought.

Sasuke looked forward. "If there's a chance it'll create an opening... Fine. I'll get my left eye ready. Let's do it!" he said then put his hands together.

Karin looked forward.

Naruto put his hands together. "Yeah!" he said.

Sasuke activated his left eye. "Amaterasu!" he said, igniting Kaguya with his black flames.

"They're making a move!" Sakura said.

The Black Flames from Kaguya disappeared from her body.

Naruto moved forward to Kaguya. "Take this!" he said then summoned 8 shadow clones.

Everyone waited for Naruto to use his secret jutsu.

Naruto and 8 of his shadow clones transformed into 9 naked boys. "Sexy Jutsu: Reverse Harem Jutsu!" they said.

Kaguya became surprised.

Kakashi and Sasuke confused.

Karin closed her eyes and put her head down, annoyed as she sighed.

Sakura blushed as her nose started to bleed.

 _"Sexy-type tend to work better on stronger opponents, dattebayo!"_ Naruto thought.

Karin sighed. _"I'll take back what I said earlier and I guess some people maybe right when they say Oniisan is a pervert."_ she thought.

Sakura became annoyed. _"That idiot! Using a jutsu like that in this situation?! That might work on me, but there's no way that jutsu will work on someone so god-like!"_ she thought, raising her right fist.

Naruto transformed back and 9 of his shadow clones disappeared before Naruto went to Kaguya hit her in the face with his left fist, making her go back.

Karin suddenly opened her eyes and stopped looking down as she became surprised.

Sakura lowered her right fist. _"It worked?!"_ she thought then her head fell back.

Kakashi became confused at Sakura's actions then looked forward.

"You may be the progenitor of chakra or whatever... But I'll bet you've never seen a jutsu like this!" Naruto thought. "This is the history of shinobi, ya fool!" he said.

" _The number one most unpredictable... Don't tell me that Naruto's Pervy Ninjutsu is going to save the world!"_ Kakashi thought then remembered Jiraiya. _"Jiraiya-sama, are you watching?!"_

Kaguya looked at Sasuke and Naruto again.

"Now, Naruto!" Sasuke said, going forward.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Right!" he said.

Sasuke and Naruto headed towards each other as Sasuke raised his left hand and Naruto raised his right hand. Sasuke teleported Kaguya in between them as tried to seal her away.

Before Sasuke and Naruto could seal her, Kaguya transported everyone to place where there's snow, ice, and mountains.

Kaguya, Black Zetsu, Sasuke, Naruto, and Karin were incased in ice.

 _"It's cold! What's going on?!"_ Naruto thought.

 _"Ice?"_ Sasuke thought.

 _"How did we get encased in ice?"_ Karin thought.

Kakashi, the Naruto clone, Obito, and Sakura were meters away from them on the mountain side.

 _"It changed!"_ Naruto thought.

"This place... Did we shift dimensions again?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura, who no longer had blood under her nose, looked at the Naruto clone again. "Whose jutsu effects are we seeing, Naruto?" she asked.

Naruto closed his eyes. "Huh?! Uh, this is probably..." he questioned.

"It feels the same as the time we were taken to that previous lava world. There's no mistake that this is our enemy's ability. To be able to rewrite the world in an instant and make it reality... This really is just like a genjutsu." Kakashi said, looking down.

Sakura looked up at the scene. "An ice world this time?! On what principle?" she asked.

Kakashi and the Naruto clone looked up at the scene.

Kaguya opened up a black hole before she used it to escape as it closed.

 _"She vanished!"_ Naruto thought.

 _"This ability... Can she move across dimensions?"_ Sasuke thought.

 _"We need to get out of this ice...!"_ Karin thought.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Karin suddenly saw another Yomotsu Hirasaka open up as Kaguya appeared from it before it closed. They watched as Kaguya came near them and held up her arms as Black Zetsu started to come out of her sleeves.

Some of Naruto's Truth-Seeking Orbs started to move in the ice.

 _"Why that-!"_ Naruto thought.

Sasuke activated his left eye again. "Amaterasu!" he thought, summoning the black flames then activated the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan in his right eye. "Flame Control!"

Kaguya put Black Zetsu in her sleeves again and lowered her arms as she flew backwards.

Sasuke used the Amaterasu to break the ice around and on himself, Naruto, and Karin before they landed on the ground.

"Thanks, Sasuke!" Naruto said.

"Yeah, thanks." Karin said.

"Sorry the Sexy Jutsu didn't work." Naruto said.

"We've never really expected that kind of Jutsu would work. This time, we're going with my strategy... Help me out." Sasuke said.

Naruto and Karin looked at Sasuke.

"Mother... These 2 are quite annoying." Black Zetsu said, coming out a little bit out of Kaguya's left sleeve. "Why don't you split them up already... and take them on separately?"

Sasuke, Naruto, and Karin looked up to see Kaguya opening up a Yomotsu Hirasaka on the right side of herself and placed her right hand in it. Another Yomotsu Hirasaka opened up behind the 3 of them before Kaguya's right hand grabbed Sasuke's collar and pulled him in. Naruto and Karin became surprised.

"Sasuke!" Karin said then jumped after Sasuke in the Yomotsu Hirasaka.

"Karin, no!" Naruto said then tried to grab her with his left hand but couldn't.

Sasuke was laying on the ground on his back as Karin on the ground a few feet away from him. The of them didn't see Kaguya but they now saw that they were in a large and hot desert that had lots of sand.

"Where are we?" Sasuke asked.

"In another one of Kaguya's dimensions." Karin said.

"Sasuke! Karin!" Naruto said, trying to stop the Yomotsu Hirasaka from closing.

Sasuke stood up as he and Karin went over to the Yomotsu Hirasaka and stopped when it completely closed.

"What are we going to do now? There's no way to get back." Karin asked, looking at Sasuke.

Sasuke looked around for a moment. "Let's see if we can find something." he said then walked forward.

Karin followed Sasuke. _"We have to do something."_ she thought.

...

Ice Dimension.

"Damn it!" Naruto said.

"Now you won't be able to seal Mother away. First, I'll suck out all of your chakra!" Black Zetsu said.

A Yomotsu Hirasaka appeared on the right side of Kaguya again before she placed her right hand in it and a Yomotsu Hirasaka appeared beside Naruto. Naruto moved away before he could be grabbed by Kaguya and levitated in the air again.

"You have nice reflexes." Black Zetsu said.

Kaguya opened up the Yomotsu Hirasaka more.

"First, I have to find Sasuke and Karin!" Naruto said.

Kaguya got into the Yomotsu Hirasaka.

"This child is fast." Black Zetsu said.

"So I guess I won't be able to tell where she's gonna strike from..." Naruto said.

The Yomotsu Hirasaka closed.

Naruto looked around for Kaguya until he looked up to see a part of a cliff falling and moved away as it destroyed a few others. "What is that?" he asked, looking attack to see more cliffs falling and an avalanche on a mountain.

Naruto covered himself with his arms as the avalanche passed him.

Kakashi crouched down as he sat Obito down on one of the cliff walls with both hands and released him.

The Naruto clone and Sakura stood a few feet away from Kakashi and Obito.

"Is it possible that... we're the only ones who were brought to this world?" Sakura asked, her hair on her forehead now.

The Naruto clone folded his arms. "No. The real me is here too, dattebayo. But I can't sense Sasuke and Karin." he said.

Everyone looked to see Obito's was starting to wake up and placed his left hand on his face, opening his eyes.

"Where am I?" Obito asked, now having both of his eyes in his eye sockets.

"Obito!" Kakashi said.

Obito looked at Kakashi. "Is that you, Kakashi?" he asked then looked down at his left hand. "I thought I died..."

"I healed you." Naruto said.

Obito looked at Naruto. "Naruto!" he said.

Naruto lowered his arms as he looked down. "But..." he said.

Obito closed his eyes. "Yeah... I know." he said then opened his eyes. "What happened to Madara? Did you take him down?"

"No, things ended up a little differently." Kakashi said.

"I'll explain it simply. Might as well tell you guys about The Sage of the 6 Paths and Kaguya too, and that seal!" Naruto said.

"I don't know what happened, but I assume you didn't defeat the enemy yet?" Obito asked then looked down. "Take me to where the fight is. You can tell me on the way."

"I can't sense Sasuke nor Karin..." Naruto said then looked down at his right hand. "And my real body feels tingly. It might be real dangerous over there!" then lowered his right arm.

"I don't know if we'll be helpful or in the way. But I don't want to fail because we weren't there when we were needed." Sakura said.

Kakashi looked up at Sakura for a moment then looked back at the others. "Besides, if we don't bring down this Kaguya, our world is done for. The few of us who are left have to do whatever we can... We had our minds made up from the very start, right?" he asked then stood up from the ground then remembered some of his memories from the past. "That we're all ready to die."

...

Desert Dimension.

From left to right, Sasuke and Karin continued to walk through the hot desert as they started to pant.

"Sasuke... Can we rest for minute?" Karin said.

Sasuke looked at Karin. "Sure." he said, stopping.

Karin slowly sat down on the sand as she panted even more.

"Nothing seems to work..." Sasuke said.

 _"We can't keep walking. If Oniisan doesn't come soon, me and Sasuke will die here."_ Karin thought.

...

Ice Dimension.

Kakashi, Obito, the Naruto clone, and Sakura started running to Naruto's location.

"It's hard to believe. So both your powers and Sasuke's are necessary in order to seal this Kaguya?" Obito asked.

"Yeah! But like I said earlier, I can't sense Sasuke and Karin at all!" Naruto said.

"The ice... is moving." Kakashi said.

Kakashi, Obito, the Naruto clone, and Sakura stopped running as they saw an explosion before and Naruto.

The Naruto clone pointed his right index finger at Naruto. "Over there!" he said then lowered his right arm.

Kakashi, Obito, the Naruto clone, and Sakura saw more explosions.

Naruto ran through the snow as he looked for Kaguya before he dodged the large ice shards. He suddenly noticed that he was being covered in snow before ice shards came at him again, barely dodging them.

 _"She's merged with Nature!"_ Naruto thought, falling before he became trapped by the ice shards.

"Naruto!" Sakura said, yelling.

A Yomotsu Hirasaka opened up as Kaguya came out of it.

"She's finally showing herself." Naruto said.

"What's happening?" Sakura asked.

As Kaguya fully came out of the Yomotsu Hirasaka, Obito watched it carefully before he disappeared.

 _"That's a form of Time-Space."_ Obito thought.

Naruto hit one of the ice shards with his right fist then stopped. "Damn it! It's no good!" he said. _"Okay... I've made it look like I'm restrained... I'll just wait until she gets closer, dattebayo!"_ he thought.

"You said you suddenly stopped sensing Sasuke and Karin?" Obito asked.

The Naruto clone looked at Obito. "Yeah." he said.

"I suspect he was taken to another dimension. She emerged from a different Time-Space. It's similar to my own Visual Prowess." Obito said.

Kakashi looked at Obito. "Can you enter it?" he asked.

"If I resonate my Kamui the next time she connects and opens a Yomotsu Hirasaka to another Time-Space, I'm positive I can enter it. If Sasuke and Karin are there, I can bring both of them back to this dimension." Obito said.

The Naruto clone looked at Obito, smiling. "All right! Then I'll go and support the real me." he said.

"However... I'll need an enormous amount of chakra to do it... since it's not my own Time-Space. If my chakra runs out while I'm there, I'm done." Obito said, activating his Mangekyo Sharingan.

The Naruto clone stopped smiling. "Then I'll go with you. The real me won't go down that quickly. But I'm strong." he said, spreading out his arms.

"Your Clone Chakra isn't enough." Obito said.

The Naruto clone lowered his arms.

Sakura stepped forward and stopped, placing her left hand on her chest. "Would it still be inadequate with my 100 Healings Chakra?" she asked.

Kakashi, Obito, and the Naruto clone looked at Sakura.

"That would give me the bare minimum. Both of you, come with me." Obito said.

"Hai!" Sakura said, placing her right arm down.

"We don't even know if Sasuke and Karin is in that Time-Space. But we'll start by getting into close range with her. I promise to find Sasuke and Karin, and deliver them to the real you." Obito said.

"Obito. Thanks for rescuing me..." the Naruto clone said then closed his eyes and bowed his head for a moment then stopped. "And Sasuke and Karin too."

Obito looked up. "Hmph. Don't thank someone like me. Just keep an eye on the enemy." he said.

Kakashi, Obito, the Naruto clone, and Sakura looked forward at the scene again.

"So no more masks, huh?" the Naruto clone asked.

"I'm... Kakashi's friend, your father's subordinate, I'm an Uchiha just like Sasuke... and..." Obito said then remembered a few things in the past. I... I am your senior who dreamt the same as you. I'm not going to waste time on a speech, because I'm almost out of time. But... I just ask that you let me walk in front of you... and die for you."

 _"Then it's true. This man can't be saved. That's why he intends to die..._ " Sakura thought.

"Naruto! And you said your name was Sakura?"Obito asked. "Keep a hand on me, so we can teleport to a different Time-Space at any moment."

"Got it." Sakura said then placed her left hand on Obito's right shoulder.

Naruto placed his right hand on Obito's left shoulder.

Kaguya looked over at Kakashi, Obito, the Naruto clone, and Sakura before she looked over at Naruto again.

Naruto looked over at Kakashi, Obito, his shadow clone, and Sakura.

"She knows about us, after all." the Naruto clone said.

"We need to keep in mind that even if we jump into her dimension with Kamui, she'll perceive us." Obito said.

 _"So we're not worth her attention, eh?"_ Kakashi thought.

 _"Yeah, come over here."_ Naruto thought, looking up at Kaguya again. _"What you want... is my chakra, right?! Whatever jutsu I use, she's just going to absorb it. So what will work best on her is also... a feint and taijutsu! I can't use a pervy move to distract her anymore. So I gotta go back to the basics and corner her! If she tries to escape through that weird window again, I'll enter it with her."_

Kaguya flew down at Naruto.

 _"That's where I'll look for Sasuke and Karin! Even now, I can sense Sasuke and Karin's chakras clearly!"_ Naruto thought.

"This is my Time-Space. You are powerless here." Kaguya said.

"Are you ready, Naruto?" Kokuō asked.

"Yeah!" Naruto said.

"I'm going to boost your chakra to the boiling point!" Kokuō said.

Steam started to come from Naruto.

"Vapor Style: Unrivalled Strength!" Kokuō said.

Kaguya raised her right hand as Naruto broke free from the ice shards.

Kaguya and Naruto battle each other again as Kaguya slammed into one of the mountains as she tried to use her 80 Gods Vacuum Fists

The Naruto clone smiled. "All right!" he said.

"A-Amazing..." Sakura said.

Kaguya was now crouching down in one of the mountains.

"I infused chakra for you, Naruto!" Kurama said.

"Thank you, Kurama!" Naruto said then put his hands together. "Multi-Shadow Clone Jutsu!"

Naruto separated his arms and lowered them as he made multiple clones in the air.

Kaguya stopped crouching down as she levitated in the air again.

Naruto and his multiple shadows went after Kaguya.

Kaguya held up her right hand and used her 80 Gods Vacuum Fists on the Naruto's multiple clones. She smiled for a moment before she saw Naruto coming towards her.

"Right now, this place is my Time-Space, dattebayo!" Naruto said.

Kaguya tried to used her 80 Gods Vacuum Fists again but Naruto blocked her with his right fist.

"U..." Naruto said.

Kaguya looked behind herself.

"zu..." one of the Naruto clones said, coming towards her.

Kaguya blocked one of the Naruto clones's right foot with her left hand.

Another one of the Naruto clones went behind Kaguya. "ma..." he said, punching her in the back with his right fist.

Another one of the Naruto clones went in front of Kaguya. "ki!" he said.

Kaguya blocked one of the Naruto clones's left foot with her right knee then she looked up to see multiple Naruto clones coming after her.

"Naruto Uzumaki Barrage!" the multiple Naruto clones said.

Kaguya opened up an Yomotsu Hirasaka from above.

 _"It opened!"_ Naruto thought.

Obito activated his Kamui as Kaguya escaped into her Yomotsu Hirasaka.

 _"The real me will go!"_ Naruto thought, going to the Yomotsu Hirasaka.

...

Kaguya opened up her Yomotsu Hirasaka into her main dimension that had a green sky and brown rock structure. She landed on the ground as her Yomotsu Hirasaka closed.

Black Zetsu heard a sound. "He forced his way in? Impossible!" he asked.

From left to right, Obito, Sakura, and Naruto crouched down as they hid from sight.

"He disappeared? Looks like several managed to get in. The 2 ran out of power and faded. Seems your clones didn't have enough chakra." Black Zetsu asked.

Naruto stood up.

"Are you the original Naruto?" Black Zetsu asked.

"So what if I am?" Naruto asked.

Kaguya looked at Naruto.

"Mother, he's made it all the way into this Root Time-Space. It's not good that he's here in this place that connects directly to the other 5 Time-Spaces. He might be able to get to where Sasuke is, using the resonance of the dual opposite powers. Take that weird jutsu earlier, this shinobi Naruto has always been unpredictable. We ought to just... kill him right now!" Black Zetsu said.

"We can't do that. I must absorb those children's chakra." Kaguya said.

"You use a huge amount of chakra whenever you change the Time-Space of the world, Mother. You need to preserve the chakra you've got for an emergency. It's better if you don't keep engaging him. If you get sealed away, all will be for naught. No doubt, you'll lose a lot of chakra. But you don't need his! It's better than having our long-cherished plans turn to dust." Black Zetsu said.

"You're right." Kaguya said bones appeared behind her.

Naruto became cautious.

Kaguya raised her left hand.

"We can kill him with this!" Black Zetsu said.

Kaguya opened up her Yomotsu Hirasaka before she shot her Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu into it with her right hand.

"Murderous Bone Ash!" Black Zetsu said.

Naruto looked behind him to see the Yomotsu Hirasaka suddenly appeared before the Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu came out of it. Naruto dodged it but was suddenly hit by another one Kaguya raised her right hand.

"Die!" Black Zetsu said.

Naruto's body started to crumble, making him surprised.

Kaguya made the bone spikes on her disappear.

Naruto continued to crumble until he was nothing but a pile of Ash on the ground.

"Now all of his clones in the Ice World should be gone as well!" Black Zetsu said.

An Yomotsu Hirasaka opened up before Kaguya went through it as it disappeared.

A Kamui suddenly appeared as Obito and Sakura came out of it and stood up before it disappeared.

"Thanks to Naruto, we were able to successfully hide inside my Time-Space. But he's gone, even as a clone." Obito said.

Sakura looked down at the pile of ash.

"You're the only one I can rely on, Sakura." Obito said.

"I know!" Sakura said then stopped looking down. "There's a reason I put myself at the front!" then looked at Obito. "And I'll do even more than Naruto!" then looked forward before she looked down at the pile of ash again, remembering her past. She looked up again.

...

Ice Dimension.

An Yomotsu Hirasaka suddenly opened up before Kaguya came out of it before it disappeared.

Kakashi looked up to see Kaguya. _"Looks like we succeeded in getting in, Obito." Kakashi said. "Now that you've teleported over there, please don't get crushed on the other side!"_ he thought.

Kaguya started to remember the past.

Suddenly multiple Naruto clones appeared.

"We killed the original! So why aren't they gone?" Black Zetsu asked.

Naruto remembered that before he could go after Kaguya.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _As Kaguya went into the Yomotsu Hirasaka, Naruto tried to go after her._

 _"The real me will go!" Naruto said._

 _Obito activated the Kamui on himself, the Naruto clone, and Sakura so they could go into the Yomotsu Hirasaka. The Yomotsu Hirasaka closed before Naruto could even get there._

 _"Damn it!" Naruto said._

 _"Are you okay, Naruto?" Kakashi asked._

 _Naruto looked at Kakashi. "How is this okay, dattebayo?!" Naruto asked._

 _"Never mind. Just be ready when Kaguya comes back." Kakashi said._

 _..._

 _Main Dimension._

 _A Kamui opened up as Obito, the Naruto clone, and Sakura appeared from it before they crouched down and hid._

 _"The Kamui worked." Obito said._

 _"They're on to us!" Naruto said then looked at Obito and Sakura. "I'll draw their attention, so you 2 go hide in the meantime!"_

 _"I've marked this spot, so I can hide in my Time-Space for the time being." Obito said then looked at Sakura. "You too, Sakura!"_

 _Sakura looked at Obito's confused._

 _A Kamui appeared as it pulled Obito and Sakura into it._

 _The Naruto clone looked forward._

 _"The other 2 ran out of power and faded. Seems like clones didn't have enough chakra." Black Zetsu said._

 _The Naruto clone stood up._

 _"Are you the original Naruto?" Black Zetsu asked._

 _"So what if I am?!" The Naruto clone asked._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

"So they were just clones back there. You fooled us." Black Zetsu said.

Naruto smiled for a moment. "You got me." he said then pointed at himself with his left thumb. "I'm... the original." then lowered his left arm. _"I've gotta fight smart and keep them busy so they don't go back over there."_ he thought.

Naruto and his multiple clones charged at Kaguya.

...

Main Dimension.

Obito was crouching down as Sakura stood behind him.

"This Time-Space should be connected to the others. We'll open them one by one and look for Sasuke and Karin." Obito said.

Sakura looked down at Obito. "Right!" she said then placed her hands on Obito's shoulders.

Sakura yelled as she activated her 100 Healings Seal as it appeared on herself and Obito's bodies.

 _"I'll give him all the chakra I've got!"_ Sakura thought.

Obito's left eye started to bleed as he used his Kamui to open a dimension. Obito's eyes started to bleed more. _"What an incredibly vast Time-Space... To be able to connect them in an instant. Just who is this Kaguya?!"_ he thought.

The Kamui opened up as Obito and Sakura looked to see the Lava Dimension.

"Isn't that where we were before?" Sakura asked.

"I can't sense Sasuke nor Karin in there!" Obito said then closed his eyes as he started to feel weak, placing his left hand on his face.

Sakura looked down at Obito, worried. "Are you all right?" she asked.

"On to the next!" Obito said.

Sakura looked up. "Hai!" she said.

Obito took his left hand off of his face as he opened his eyes.

...

Desert Dimension.

Sasuke and Karin returned to walking through the sand then suddenly stopped.

"I thought it was around here..." Sasuke said, wiping some of the sweat from his head with his left arm.

"Maybe you're starting to see things...?" Karin questioned.

Sasuke and Karin suddenly looked at the right side as Karin suddenly sensed familiar chakras.

"You felt that too?" Karin asked.

"Yes!" Sasuke said.

Sasuke and Karin walked in the right direction.

...

Main Dimension.

The Kamui showed another dimension that had green pyramids.

"What is... that?" Sakura asked.

"He's not here either." Obito said then closed his eyes as panted again.

"You should rest a bit." Sakura said.

Obito opened his eyes. "What about chakra?" he asked.

"Oh... I still have reserves." Sakura said.

Obito looked at Sakura again. "Keep enough to get back. If worse comes to worst and we can't find Sasuke and Karin..." he said.

Sakura looked up. "We'll find them!" she said.

Obito looked forward. "Next!" he said.

...

Ice Dimension.

Kaguya attacked the Naruto clones that came her as they disappeared, attacking a few with her Yomo. Kaguya activated her Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu with her right hand.

Naruto flew towards Kaguya.

"Be careful about making a gateway, Mother. Naruto will get closer to Sasuke." Black Zetsu said.

Kaguya closed the Yomotsu Hirasaka and dodged Naruto, who stopped and looked up at her.

"Plus, I've figured out something. The original Naruto has Truthseeker Orbs around him!" Black Zetsu said.

Kaguya looked at Naruto before she turned towards him.

Some of the shadow clones gathered around him.

Kaguya flew after Naruto, who also flew after her.

...

Main Dimension.

The Kamui opened up another dimension that appears to be yellow-green. Suddenly acid came out of it as it was going to splash Obito and Sakura.

Sakura quickly moved in front of Obito and moved him out of the way by jumping. Some of the acid was on Sakura's flak jacket. Sakura unzipped her jacket uniform with both hands and tossed it on the ground then ripped her right sleeve off with her left hand. She crouched down and grabbed her right arm with her left arm as her wounds were healing.

"Are you okay?" Obito asked.

Sakura's 100 Healings Seal reverted back.

"I'm fine! This is nothing." Sakura said.

The Kamui disappeared.

"You are a Medical Ninja, aren't you? I'll wait until you heal your wound." Obito asked then closed his eyes. "That place wasn't the right one either. After we rest a little, we'll..." then turned around.

Sakura stood up as her wounds fully healed. "Don't worry about it!" she said, separating her hands as she lowered her arms.

Obito opened his eyes as he looked at Sakura.

Sakura stepped forward and stopped. "There's a limit to our chakra, right?" she asked then placed her hands back on Obito's shoulders, panting a little bit.

"Why don't you tend to your wound? Just a little will..." Obito asked.

"I don't want to waste this chance that Naruto gave us!" Sakura said.

Obito looked forward. "You want to help him if he starts to stumble, eh?" Obito asked.

"Huh?" Sakura asked.

Obito closed his eyes. "It's nothing." he said then opened his eyes. "Okay, next!"

"Yes!" Sakura said then activated her 100 Healings again.

The Kamui opened up to reveal the Desert Dimension. Obito and Sakura saw Sasuke and Karin walking.

"They're here!" Obito said.

"Sasuke-kun! Karin!" Sakura said, yelling.

"Sasuke, look!" Karin said, looking forward.

Sasuke looked where Karin was facing.

"Sasuke-kun! Karin! Over here! Hurry!" Sakura said, weakly.

Obito started to feel weak. _"Damn it!"_ he thought.

"Karin, let's go!" Sasuke said, running.

Karin ran after Sasuke. "Right!" she said.

The Kamui started to close.

"It's closing!" Karin said.

 _"Karin! Sasuke-kun!"_ Sakura thought then closed her eyes as she gathered more chakra. "Shannaro!" she said.

Sasuke grabbed Karin with both hands before he used his Rinnegan to transport to the main dimension.

Obito closed his eyes as the Kamui closed.

Sakura opened her eyes. "Karin! Sasuke-kun!" she said.

Obito placed his hands on the ground as he panted.

Sasuke, who was standing, and Karin, who was crouching down, were behind Obito and Sakura.

Sakura's 100 Healings reverted back. _"No way..."_ she thought then she started to fall, closing her eyes.

Sasuke grabbed Sakura from falling, his right hand on her right arm. They silently looked at each other.

Obito looked behind him. "How did you 2 do it?" he asked.

"Obito." Karin said.

"It's one of my abilities. I can shift myself between spaces, although only over a finite distance. But we made it here, thanks to those." Sasuke said.

Sakura slowly saw that her flak jacket uniform and right sleeve were gone.

Karin stood up from the ground. "Okay, I'll start healing you guys." she said.

From left to right, Sasuke, who was standing up, Sakura, Karin, and Obito, were crouching down.

Karin placed her left hand on Sakura's right shoulder and her right hand on Obito's left shoulder as she used her Mystical Palm Technique on them. Sasuke looked around.

Sakura looked at Obito. "This man lent me his power. That's how we were able to get here." she said.

Sasuke and Karin looked at Obito.

"Really?" Karin asked.

"He did?" Sasuke asked.

Obito closed his eyes as he grunted in pain as he placed his arms on the ground.

Karin placed her left hand on Obito to heal him more. "Obito!" she said.

"Oh no..." Sakura said.

 _"Damn it... I can't... Not until I can bring them back..."_ Obito thought.

"Hang on! Karin's still healing you." Sakura said.

Obito opened his left eye. _"Will I... break my promise again?"_ he thought, looking at Sakura. He remembered the past. _"Rin?"_ after a moment he opened his eyes again.

"You had us worried." Karin said.

"Thank goodness!" Sakura said then smiled. "You came back!"

Obito raised himself from the ground a little bit, closing his eyes. "There's still something I must do." he said.

Sakura became confused.

"Thanks, Karin." Obito said.

Karin just nodded.

Obito opened his eyes as he looked up at Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura. "We're going back, you 3." he said.

Karin stopped using her Mystical Palm Technique on Obito as stood up.

Obito stood up from the ground. "Hang on to me." he said.

"All right!" Sakura said, placing her left hand on Obito's right shoulder.

Karin placed her left hand on Obito's back and Sasuke placed his right hand on Obito's left shoulder.

Obito activated his Mangekyo Sharingan again.

...

Ice Dimension.

Kaguya and Naruto and his multiple clones continued to battle each other. Kaguya used her Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu with both hands to defeat the Naruto clones then stopped.

"There's no mistake." Black Zetsu said.

Spikes appeared on Kaguya's back again.

 _"Those things... They cut down the Shadow Clones earlier."_ Naruto thought.

Kaguya raised both of her hands as she started to use her Ame then flew towards Naruto as she shot 2 Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu at him.

2 of Naruto's shadow clones stepped in front of Naruto as they were hit by Kaguya's Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu, turning them into ash seconds later.

"The Clones are desperately protecting that one. There's no mistake, Mother. The one with the Truthseeker Orbs behind him is the real one!" Black Zetsu said.

Some of the Naruto clones covered Naruto now.

2 more Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu came out of Kaguya's hands as she flew towards Naruto again.

The Naruto clones flew towards Kaguya before they were stabbed by her Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu and turned to ash.

"There's no end to them!" one of the Naruto clones said before turning into ash.

Kaguya continued to stab the Naruto clones with both hands.

Kakashi looked down, making his hands into fists. _"Am I powerless to do anything but watch? Right now, even Sakura and Obito are desperately..."_ he thought then looked up again. _"I... I really couldn't do much for you as your teacher."_ imagining Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura. _"Nor you, Obito and Rin..."_ imagining himself, Obito, and Rin. _"as your friend. I just put on airs because I was an elite, and kept making mistakes."_

"It's not over yet!" One of the Naruto clones said.

Kakashi became surprised.

"There's no way I'm gonna lose!" One of the Naruto clones said.

Kakashi watched as the multiple Naruto clones flew towards Kaguya, repeatedly started to stab them with her Ames and the spikes on her back, turning into dust.

 _"What am I wallowing, when Naruto's fighting so hard? That's why I'm never any good. There should be something I can still do!"_ Kakashi thought.

Nearby a Kamui opened up before as Obito, Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura came out of it as they crouched down on the snow cliff.

Kakashi saw them. "Obito!" he said.

Everyone looked at Obito, Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura, who now stood up.

"Impossible! It's Sasuke!" Black Zetsu said.

Sasuke jumped off of the snow cliff and stood a few meters below.

"He's here!" One of the Naruto clones said.

Sasuke ran towards the battle.

Kaguya grabbed Naruto with her hair and was about to stab him with her left Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu.

Kakashi, Obito, Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura became surprised as Kaguya stabbed him.

"Now, there's nothing to worry about." Kaguya said.

Naruto started to turn into ash.

Sasuke stopped running.

"No way!" Obito said.

Sakura placed her hands near her chest. "Naruto!" she said.

Karin stopped becoming surprised as she sensed that wasn't the real Naruto. _"Great work, Oniisan!"_ she thought.

The Naruto clone puffed away as it turned into ash, leaving the Truth-Seeking Orbs.

Kaguya and Black Zetsu became surprised.

"Why you! He passed the Truthseeker Orbs to a clone? We fell for something so simple!" Black Zetsu asked.

Naruto smiled at Obito and Sakura. "Thank you, Sakura-chan and Obito!" he said.

Sakura put her arms down. "What? You're okay?" she asked.

Obito smiled nervously for a moment. "You scared us there!" he said.

Sasuke walked towards Naruto.

The 5 Truth-Seeking Orbs went back to Naruto, who flew to Sasuke and stopped.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said.

Sasuke stopped walking.

"Did you and Karin thank Sakura-chan and Obito properly?" Naruto asked, pointing his right index finger at Sasuke.

"Focus on the enemy!" Sasuke said.

 _"Well, Naruto was always unexpectedly cunning."_ Kakashi thought.

Naruto lowered his right arm and stopped smiling as he and Sasuke looked up at Kaguya.

"Mother... Since they've reunited we have no other choice. We can't afford to be stingy with our chakra." Black Zetsu said.

"I know that." Kaguya said then raised her arms as she activated her Rinne-Sharingan, using her Amenominaka to transport everyone to the High-Gravity Dimension that has the small green pyramids.

Everyone was now crouching down because the gravity was so strong. The multiple Naruto clones fell from the fell to the ground before they disappeared.

Sasuke closed his right eye as he tried to stand up but couldn't. Obito and Sakura's arms were on the ground. Everyone tried to get up but couldn't.

 _"My body feels so heavy."_ Sakura thought.

 _"I see. Kaguya brought us here because the gravity is so high it would be impossible to move."_ Karin thought.

 _"This terrain... is digging into my body!"_ Sakura thought.

Naruto fell on the left side of Sasuke as the 5 Truth-Seeking Orbs fell near him, closing his right eye. "I can't levitate!" he said.

 _"A heavy gravity plane this time!"_ Sasuke thought, opening his right eye again. _"Except... She's affected too."_

Kaguya, who now had spikes on her back, slowly raised her hands.

Everyone became surprised as Kaguya made Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu with both hands.

"Oh no!" Kakashi said.

"Damn it! The Visual Prowess in my left eye hasn't..." Sasuke thought.

Kaguya shot her 2 Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu at Sasuke and Naruto.

"Dodge it, Sasuke!" Naruto said, slowly moving the left side for a moment.

Sakura closed her eyes as her head faced the left side.

 _"No!"_ Karin thought.

Sasuke moved to the right side and Naruto moved to the left side as they dodged the 2 Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu,which stabbed the ground a few feet behind them.

"Is the heavy gravity distorting your aim?" Black Zetsu asked.

"I've now adjusted for it. I won't miss with the next one." Kaguya said, creating 2 more Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu.

"Oniisan! Sasuke!" Karin said.

Sakura opened her eyes and looked at the scene.

"I won't let you!" Obito said then slowly stood up as he walked forward.

Kakashi carefully stood up and slowly walked forward. _"There's something that I can still do. I can at least be a shield for them!"_ he thought.

 _"Let me make it in time!"_ Kakashi and Obito thought.

Kaguya shot her 2 Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu at Sasuke and Naruto again.

Kakashi stepped in front of Sasuke while Obito stepped in front of Naruto.

Kaguya smirked.

Obito suddenly imagined Rin, in her usual outfit, grabbing his right hand with her left hand and Kakashi suddenly imagined Rin grabbing his left hand with her right hand. _"Rin!"_ they thought then Rin suddenly disappeared.

 _"Again, you..."_ Obito thought.

 _"Thank you, Rin. Obito and I will be joining you soon. We can catch up then... together, the 3 of us."_ Kakashi thought.

As the 2 Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu were about to hit Kakashi and Obito in their stomachs, Obito suddenly looked at Kakashi

Obito activated his Mangekyo Sharinagan. _"Rin... This time, when I get there... Let's spend some alone time together, just you and me."_ he thought then used his Kamui to make the Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu aiming for Kakashi disappear. The Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu aiming for Obito pierced him in the stomach. Obito started to imagine Rin for a moment before he looked at Kakashi smiling. _"Kakashi would just be in the way. I'm gonna leave him here."_

Kakashi looked down to see the Kamui disappeared with the Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu. _"This is... Kamui!"_ he thought then looked at Obito, surprised.

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura became surprised.

Kaguya stopped smirking as he made a serious look.

"Obito! You!" Kakashi said.

"Kakashi... You stay here a little longer." Obito said, stopped smirking as he looked forward.

Kakashi continued to be surprised.

"Don't you rush to follow us!" Obito said, smiling then panted a little bit.

Obito's body started to turn to ash.

"Why? I thought we had both resolved to... Your power is still needed here!" Kakashi asked.

Obito's body started to turn to ash more.

The spikes on Kaguya crumbled away as she lowered her arms.

"We need to rebuild chakra again. Mother, let's teleport to the Root Time-Space... You'll recover faster there, too." Black Zetsu said.

"Why would you do this for someone useless like me?" Kakashi asked.

Obito stopped smirking. "Never mind that. Kakashi, be wary of the enemy." he said.

Kakashi looked at Kaguya.

Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Naruto slowly stood up.

 _"Naruto, Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura... This is a crucial time for them. Kakashi, you must survive and support the next generation. It's too soon for you to die."_ Obito thought.

Obito's body started to crack.

Naruto placed his right hand Obito's back to heal him but it didn't work.

"It's totally useless, Naruto. He's a goner. He'll rot away like trash and die." Black Zetsu said.

Naruto looked at Black Zetsu, angry.

"Enough, Naruto. He's right. Don't waste your chakra." Obito said.

Kakashi looked at Obito again.

"Why do you symphathize with him? He was originally your enemy, right? Then again, he's a traitor to us now. A loser on both sides. Hatred and resented by friend and foe alike, with no one to call comrade or family... He's alone, with nothing left. He's lost everyone precious to him, and he can't realize his dreams. And after being used up, he's helpless at the end..." Black Zetsu asked.

Obito closed his eyes.

"He's a fool, filled with nothing but mistakes..." Black Zetsu said.

"You've done nothing but-!" Naruto said but was cut off.

"You're right..." Obito said then remembered some memories from his past. "It's an end worthy of the criminal that I am."

Naruto gritted his teeth in anger.

Sasuke felt the power of his Rinnegan return. _"My Visual Prowess is back!"_ he thought then teleported to Kaguya as he activated his Chidori with his left hand.

Kaguya looked at Sasuke before she used her Amenominaka shift everyone to the Main Dimension then she dodged Sasuke's attack by flying away.

Sasuke unactivated his Chidori as he looked up at Kaguya, annoyed.

Everyone looked around.

"We've been here before!" Sakura said.

"Did she change worlds again?!" Kakashi asked.

Everyone looked up at Kaguya.

Sasuke activated his Susano'o aura then looked at Naruto. "Naruto! Naruto, I'll handle the diversions this time. He's beyond help. Come with me." he said.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"I'm going on ahead!" Sasuke said then looked forward and jumped up into the air before activated his Complete Body Susano'o and flew after Kaguya, creating wind for a moment then stopped.

Kakashi, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura looked at Obito.

Naruto continued to try and heal Obito. "Damn it! Damn it!" he said then closed his eyes. "Damn it!"

Obito's body slowly cracked even more.

Obito looked at Naruto, smiling. "That's enough. Thank you, Naruto." he said.

Naruto opened his eyes as he looked at Obito, surprised.

"After fighting you, I feel like I've woken up." Obito said, remembering some memories from the past again. "It was as if I saw my past self when I looked at you. And I regret what I am now. But for some reason, it also made me happy."

Naruto looked down at the ground, sadly.

"As a kid, I would imagine myself as Hokage so often. That indescribable feeling of exhilaration and anxiety... I think you brought that all back for me." Obito said then remembered more memories and an illusion if he had returned.

 _..._

 _More of the Illusion._

 _Konohagakure._

 _Hokage's Office._

 _Obito, in the Hokage outfit, was sitting at the desk as he was writing something down with his right hand._

 _Kakashi was carrying books with both hands._

 _"This is driving me crazy! All this paperwork day in and day out." Obito said._

 _"That can't be helped... You're the Hokage now." Kakashi said then placed the books on the desk._

 _Obito stopped writing._

 _"Besides, something like this sure beats having to fight every day." Kakashi said._

 _Obito smiled. "That's for sure." he said._

 _..._

 _30 minutes later._

 _Outside._

 _From left to right, Obito and Kakashi walked together through village._

 _2 male children ran towards Kakashi and Obito._

 _"It's the Hokage!" one of the boys said._

 _Obito waved at them with his right hand for a moment._

 _"Hokage-sama! Hello!" one of the children said._

 _The children ran off._

 _Kakashi and Obito stopped walking as they suddenly saw from left to right, Naruto, in his usual outfit, Sakura, Karin, and Sasuke, in their casual outfits._

 _"Hi, Hokage-sama." Karin said._

 _"Hokage-sama, are you on your rounds?" Sakura asked, smiling._

 _"Well, yes." Obito said._

 _"Yeah, right! You're just goofing off, right?" Naruto asked._

 _Sasuke closed his eyes. "Hn. Speak for yourself!" he said._

 _Naruto quickly appeared in front of Sasuke, annoyed._

 _Sasuke opened his eyes._

 _"What?!" Naruto asked._

 _"Wanna make something of it?" Sasuke asked._

 _"Cut it out!" Sakura said, raising her right fist to punch Naruto but was stopped when Karin blocked it with her left fist._

 _Karin looked at Sakura, annoyed. "Stop hitting Oniisan!" she said, lowering her left arm._

 _"He was being rude to the Hoage-sama." Sakura said then lowered her right arm._

 _"Oniisan is the only person you hit!" Karin said._

 _Kakashi and Obito walked away._

 _"Peaceful... It's so peaceful, thanks to you." Kakashi said._

 _"Not just me. It's everyone who did their best to support the village." Obito said._

 _"It would be nice to talk to Rin someday." Kakashi said._

 _"Yeah." Obito said._

 _Illusion Ends._

 _..._

 _"Imagining the village, friends, and me as the Hokage... Even after all that's happened... Just the thought of it seems to fill up the hole in my heart."_ Obito thought then smiled, his body crumbling away even more. _"Maybe it's because it's the end, I find myself rambling all of a sudden."_

Naruto looked at Obito.

Obito started to remember more memories from his past as his body started to turn to ash. "A lot more suffering likely awaits you, Naruto. But don't ever change and hang on to your Ninja Way. You once told me that never going back on your word is your Ninja Way, right?" he asked.

Naruto closed his eyes. "Yeah..." he said.

Kakashi crouched down on the ground.

Obito's body crumbled even more then he looked at Naruto. "Naruto... You better... become Hokage!" he said then turned to a pile of ash.

Naruto opened his eyes as he lowered his right arm. "Yeah!" he said then closed his eyes.

Kakashi closed his eyes.

Karin and Sakura looked from a few meters away.

Everyone looked at the battle between Kaguya and Sasuke. Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o punched Kaguya with it's right fist but it had no effect.

Sasuke noticed this before he looked down at Naruto and the pile of ash that was once Obito.

"The vermin traitor has finally died, eh?" Black Zetsu asked then came out of Kaguya's left sleeve a little bit. "He was vermin and persistent as a cockroach." then laughed for a moment.

Naruto looked at Black Zetsu angrily. "Don't laugh at Obito!" he said.

"Oniisan." Karin said.

Sakura placed her left hand near her chest. "Naruto..." she said.

"Naruto... If you keep resisting, you'll end up pitifully crumbling to ash just like him!" Black Zetsu said.

"As someone who tried to to become Hokage, Obito is nothing but..." Naruto said.

Kakashi opened his eyes.

Naruto levitated in the air and quickly went over to Kaguya and sliced off half of Kaguya's left arm with his right hand. "Awesome to me!" he said.

"No way!" Black Zetsu said.

Kaguya's left and sleeve and Black Zetsu on the ground.

Naruto turned 2 of his Truth-Seeking Orbs into rods and pierced Kaguya's left arm as Black Zetsu wouldn't escape.

"I can't move!" Black Zetsu thought.

Kakashi stood up from the ground, looking down at the pile of ash. "I don't even have much strength left, and yet, I was left behind again?" he thought then he started to remember some of his memories from the past. "Why, Obito?" he asked then closed his eyes. "What am I even here for?" then opened his eyes and noticed chakra coming from the pile of ash and into him.

Kakashi's and Obito's consciousness.

Kakashi, who was now looked like a teenager, suddenly saw Obito, who also looked like a teenager, appeared a few feet away from him.

"Obito?!" Kakashi asked.

Obito stood up, his Mangekyo Sharingan activated. "Before I go to the next world, I thought I'd emphasize to you... to not to come running after me so quickly. Besides, it's going to keep bothering me if this eye I gave you to celebrate your promotion to jonin, came back to me." he said, placing his right hand on his right hip.

Kakashi placed his hands on his hips. "Obito, you..." he said.

Obito took his right hand off of his right hip. "Then again, it's not like I'll be springing back to life anymore." he said, raising his right hand. "More importantly, you know how I told Naruto to become Hokage? I meant to say as the Seventh."

Kakashi became confused.

"You be the Sixth Hokage, Kakashi. I know you haven't taken office yet, but I'm giving you your gift now. It has a fixed time limit, but it isn't useless. Do you get what I'm saying? I mean... you haven't forgotten your famous nickname that's known throughout the lands, have you?" Obito asked, lowering his right arm.

Kakashi closed his eyes.

...

Main Dimension.

Kakashi opened his eyes as he had the Mangekyo Sharingan.

"That name, Kakashi of the Sharingan!" Obito said.

Sasuke's Susano'o was now holding a sword in it's right hand and went to attack Kaguya but she attacked him when she raised her right and used her 80 on him. Sasuke grunted in pain before his Susano'o swung his sword at her. Kaguya dodged the attack before Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o moved away.

Kaguya looked above her to see Naruto and 8 Naruto clones.

"Let's do this, guys!" Naruto said.

Kaguya activated her Byakugan.

The first Naruto had the Magnet Release and Sand Rasen-Shuriken in his right hand.

"Mnhm." Shukaku said.

The second Naruto clone had the Blue Flamed Rasen-Shuriken in his right hand.

"Yes!" Matatabi said.

The third Naruto clone had the Water Release Rasen-Shuriken in his right hand.

"Yup!" Isobu said.

The fourth Naruto clone had the Lava Release Rasen-Shuriken in his right hand.

"All right!" Son Goku said.

The fifth Naruto clone had the Boil Release Rasen-Shuriken in his right hand.

"Roger." Kokuo said.

The sixth Naruto clone had the Soap Bubble Rasen-Shuriken in his right hand.

"Sure thing!" Saiken said.

The seventh Naruto clone had the Scale Powder Rasen-Shuriken in his right hand.

"Gotcha!" Chomei said.

The eighth Naruto clone had the Ink Rasen-Shuriken in his right hand.

"Yeah!" Gyuki said.

Naruto had the Wind Release Rasen-Shuriken in his right hand.

"Here we go!" Kurama said.

Kaguya became cautious.

"Sage Art: Super Tailed Beast Rasen-Shuriken!" Naruto said his 8 shadow clones said before they threw them at Kaguya, hitting her simultaneously.

Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o unactivated as he was falling then Naruto caught him with both hands.

Karin smiled. "Go, Oniisan!" she said.

Sakura raised both of her fists, smiling. "Nice, Naruto!" she said then lowered her arms.

Karin and Sakura made serious looks now.

"There's no way they can come out of that unscathed." Sakura thought.

 _"What kinds of attacks are they going to throw at Kaguya now to seal her away?"_ Karin thought.

Kaguya, injured and her clothes a little ripped up, stood there for a moment her cut off left arm began to swell before it started to form the faces of the 9 Tailed Beasts, groaned in pain.

"Oh no! Don't tell me Mother's-!" Black Zetsu said.

"What's that?" Sakura asked.

"The Tailed Beasts are emerging." Karin said.

Kaguya suddenly turned into a large white rabbit with the Rinne-Sharingan still on her forehead while the 9 Tailed Beasts were behind her.

Sasuke was standing on a Truth-Seeking Orbs foothold as he, Naruto, and Naruto's 8 shadow clones faced Kaguya.

"She turned into another gigantic thing? What is that? A wwolf? Tanuki? Badger? Or a rabbit?" Naruto asked.

"It doesn't matter. Now it's easier to get close. And it'll be easier to seal her!" Sasuke said.

 _"It's not... humanoid? Mother didn't transform into 10 Tails of her own will. Are the Tailed Beasts within her resonating in response to Naruto's attack and starting to split apart? They're not stable!"_ Black Zetsu thought.

9 arms suddenly came from Kaguya and the 9 Tailed Beasts as one of them reached for Sasuke and Naruto. One of the Naruto clones shoved Sasuke and Naruto away then was absorbed by one of the arms.

"Sasuke, don't get grabbed by that white hand. It will absorb you instantly! And it's fast too!" Naruto said.

"I know that!" Sasuke said.

The 9 arms grabbed for everyone. Karin and Sakura dodged the arm that tried to grab them.

"Let's go!" Karin said, turning around and running away.

Sakura turned around and followed Karin as the hand chased them.

Naruto looked at Sasuke. "Sasuke! Protect Karin and Sakura-chan with your Visual Prowess!" he said.

Karin and Sakura looked back to see the arm catching up to them.

Sasuke closed his right eye as he tried to use his Rinnegan.

Karin and Sakura were suddenly grabbed by a light blue left arm before they could be grabbed by the white arm.

Naruto smiled. "All right, way to go!" he said.

Sasuke opened his right eye again. "A Susano'o? Whose was it?" he asked.

Naruto looked at Sasuke confused. "W-What? That wasn't you?!" he asked.

"What's going on?!" Black Zetsu asked.

Karin and Sakura suddenly saw that they were in the left hand of a light blue Complete Body Susano'o used by Kakashi.

"Kakashi!" Karin said.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura said.

Kakashi had both of the Mangekyo Sharingan in his eyes. _"Thank you... Obito."_ he thought.

"That's impossible. No way!" Sasuke said.

Naruto looked at Sasuke smiling. "Sure it is! We are talking about the Copy Ninja, Kakashi of the Sharingan!" he said.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "But he shouldn't have the Sharingan anymore..." he said.

"How's this possible?" Karin asked.

"I don't get it, but he saved us!" Sakura said.

 _"You watch along with me. This time, I'll protect them... and the world!"_ Kakashi thought then stood beside Sasuke, Naruto, and 7 of Naruto's clones.

Another white hand went to Kakashi's Complete Body Susano'o.

Naruto made a serious look. "Here it comes!" he said.

Kakashi tossed Karin and Sakura up to the Complete Body Susano'o forehead with him. Karin stood on the right side of Kakashi and Sakura stood on the left side of him. Kakashi's Complete Body Susano'o crossed his arms.

 _"How about this? Combining the power of the Kamui into... shuriken!"_ Kakashi thought.

Kakashi's Complete Body Susano'o held 2 Kamui shuriken in each of his hands and threw 4 of them.

"Kamui Shuriken!" Kakashi said.

The 4 Kamui shuriken sucked 4 of the middle parts of the 9 arms off.

Kaguya screamed.

"Just as I thought... Gaining 6 Path's power enhances one's Visual Prowess too!" Kakashi said.

 _"This chakra... And that's Obito's Mangekyo Sharingan!"_ Karin thought.

 _"This power... It's Obito's Sharingan? But why does Kakashi-Sensei have it?"_ Sakura thought.

"Wow! That's more amazing than yours, Sasuke!" Naruto said.

 _"This chakra is-!"_ Sasuke thought.

Chakra suddenly came up from the ground merged with Kaguya before it started to turn into a large Truth-Seeking Orb and Kaguya reverted back to her previous form near it.

"This Root Time-Space is Mother's exclusive domain, where she can directly extract chakra from shinobi trapped in the Infinite Tsukuyomi! The Tailed Beasts are now stable, and Mother has even produced a Truthseeker Orb... An Expansive Kekkei Moura Truthseeker Orb that contains each and every nature... Wind, fire, earth, lightning, water, shadow, and light. It is the beginning of a new Time-Space. And you all will become its sacrifice!" Black Zetsu said.

"That thing! It's the same sphere as the one behind me!" Naruto said.

"The difference in size is too drastic! And it's growing rapidly!" Sasuke said.

"I definitely can't teleport away such a gigantic object with the Kamui. Even if we get out of this Time-Space and escape temporarily... If that thing becomes too big, we won't be able to return here." Kakashi said.

"In order to stop that..." Sasuke said.

Naruto pointed his right index finger at Kaguya. "We need to seal the Rabbit Granny away right now!" he said.

"Of course." Karin said.

"You're right." Sakura said.

"Gather 'round. I've got a plan. This will be our last mission as the former Squad 7! We're going to save the the world!" Kakashi said.

"Hn." Sasuke said.

"Yeah!" Naruto said.

"Okay!" Karin said.

"Roger!" Sakura said.

"I am immortal. If either of you die, you cannot seal me away. Now then..." Kaguya said then activated her Byakugan again. "Which shall it be?"

The 7 Naruto clones covered Sasuke and Naruto.

"You're mine, damn it!" Naruto said, moving the clone in front of him away with his left hand.

"No, we attack her together. She's scared of being sealed and her attention will be divided!" Sasuke said.

Sasuke and Naruto levitated up.

"Take me part of the way. Then I'll fly the rest of the way." Sasuke said.

"Right!" Naruto said.

Naruto levitated forwards as Sasuke used the foothold to move forward.

There were suddenly spikes on Kaguya's back, making Kakashi, Karin, and Sakura surprised. Kaguya shot 5 Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu at Kakashi's Complete Body Susano'o.

 _"So fast!"_ Kakashi thought.

The Yomo pierced some parts of the head.

"Mother just gain more power. Both her power and speed are now exponentially greater!" Black Zetsu said.

One of the Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu pierced Kakashi's chest then it he activated a black Chidori with his right hand as the Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu moved through his stomach.

 _"Being able to pass through things, really is a handy ability, Obito..."_ Kakashi thought, getting out of the Complete Body Susano'o as the Yomo was out of him. "And now, I can resurrect this move too!" then attack Kaguya. "Kamui Lighting Blade!" he said, falling.

Kaguya's right shoulder was injured.

"Mother!" Black Zetsu said. _"This is bad! Her right arm!"_ he thought.

Kaguya turned up before she used her new left arm to make a Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu, Sasuke, who had his left hand raised, was on the right side of Kaguya while Naruto, who had his right hand raised, was on the left side of her as they moved to seal her.

Kaguya pointed her left hand at Naruto.

 _"There's not enough time to escape into another Time-Space! Then!"_ Black Zetsu thought then used Kaguya's old left arm to activate a Yomotsu Hirasaka and a Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu came from it.

A Yomotsu Hirasaka opened on the left side of Kaguya, who still had her Byakugan activated. Kaguya shot a Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu at Naruto, who started to turn into ash.

Sasuke suddenly puffed as he was the real Naruto.

 _"So they were both Ashura's reincarnates, after all. They must have, switched back then. So then, the one on the right is the real one!"_ Kaguya thought.

Black Zetsu used Kaguya's old left arm to make a Yomotsu Hirasaka and shot it into the Tomogoroshi no Haikotsu before another Yomotsu Hirasaka opened up and it was almost about to pierce Naruto.

Kakashi activated his Kamui as he looked up at the scene. "Kamui!" he said, making the Tomo disappear.

Naruto lowered his left arm as he raised his right hand.

Kaguya became surprised.

Sasuke, who was behind the remaining Naruto clones, used his Rinnegan to switch places with the Naruto clone that was turning into ash as he raised his left hand.

 _"Not good. I'll go to the Ice World... No... The Indra reincarnate possesses the Amaterasu... That wouldn't be good!"_ Kaguya thought, lowering her arms before she flew up.

Karin, who had her left fist raised, and Sakura, who had her right fist raised, were falling from the sky above Kaguya.

 _"Oh no you don't! You're not escaping again!"_ Karin thought.

 _"Don't forget about us! We 3 women... so don't mock us!"_ Sakura thought.

Karin and Sakura punched Kaguya in the head as Karin broke Kaguya's right horn.

Black Zetsu became surprised.

 _"Naruto... Sasuke... Sakura... Karin!"_ Kakashi thought then he remembered the memories of first forming Team 7 and Karin being a temporary member at the time. _"Yup... You guys make a pretty picture right now."_ smiling.

"Now!" Sasuke said.

"Go!" Karin said.

"Shannaro!" Sakura said.

"All right!" Naruto said.

Sasuke placed his left hand on Kaguya and Naruto placed his right hand on her, sealing her.

 _"I really love you guys!"_ Kakashi thought.

"6 Paths Planetary Devastation!" Sasuke and Naruto said.

 _"To think that I, the originator of chakra... would be defeated by pieces of my own chakra again..."_ Kaguya thought, her Rinne-Sharingan being concealed then she imagined Hagoromo and Hamura before she saw Sasuke and Naruto again. _"Why?!"_

The seals on Sasuke's left palm and Naruto's right palm disappeared.

Some of the ground started to rise from the air and cover Kaguya.

Kaguya's Expansive Truth-Seeking Ball begins crumbling.

Kaguya yelled as she started to turn into the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path as the Tailed Beasts are separating from her.

As Karin and Sakura were falling from sky, Kakashi suddenly caught them with both arms.

"Is the ground being sucked up towards her?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes!" Karin said.

The 9 Tailed Beasts split up from Kaguya and returned to their original forms as they stood up on the ground.

"We finally made it out! Kurama, your Jinchuriki's pretty good." Son Goku said.

Kurama looked up at Kaguya to see a Rabbit face and Demonic Statue of the Outer Path being sealed by the rocks from the ground.

The rabbit head left in it spits Madara's, in his regular appearance, body out on the ground before more rocks came to cover it's face.

"Over here!" Chomei said.

The 9 Tailed Beasts ran over to the left side.

Kakashi, Karin, and Sakura were now standing before they turned to see the 9 Tailed Beasts and Sasuke coming towards them.

Sakura smiled as she waved her right arm. "Sasuke-kun!" she said then placed her right arm down as she stopped smiling.

"What happened to Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura looked at Kakashi.

"He went off by himself, saying there was something he had to take care of. More importantly, we need to get farther away from here!" Sasuke said.

Karin suddenly sensed that Naruto was heading towards Black Zetsu. _"Go get him, Oniisan."_ she thought, smiling for a moment.

"At this point, it can't be helped. I'll just start over and work on Mother's next resurrection!" Black Zetsu thought.

Naruto, who reverted back, landed in front of Black Zetsu as he crouched down, smirking. "That reminds me, you don't like being separated from your mom, right?" he asked.

"D-Damn you!" Black Zetsu said.

"I haven't forgotten about you. Hiding in the shadows and creeping around for all this time!" Naruto said then grabbed Black Zetsu with his left hand.

"You! You're just a piece of the shinobi history I created. A brat like you could never...!" Black Zetsu said.

Naruto stopped smirking. "History? Shinobi history... consists of all sorts of ninja's lives, and deaths! Many shinobi taught me what it means to be a shinobi." he asked then remembered the past. "The pain and sadness of death... the tragedy of war. And not only that! They taught me the joy of being accepted and being loved! The way they lived... and the way they died... made me who I am! They taught me and trusted me! You're a brat who can't even leaved the nest!" then grabbed Black Zetsu with both hands as he started to swing him around. "Get over yourself, dattebayo!" then tossed Black Zetsu up to where Kaguya is.

Black Zetsu landed on the rocks before he started to be covered by them.

Everyone looked up at the forming planet.

From left to right, Kakashi and Sakura, who had her right fist near her chest, stood together as Karin and Sasuke stood a few feet away from them.

Karin suddenly sensed that Black Zetsu was on the forming planet now. _"Great work, Oniisan. Now he won't ever corrupt anyone in the future again."_ she thought.

"It's still growing. It's like a moon." Kakashi said.

Everyone suddenly saw Naruto jumping towards them.

"Guys!" Naruto said then landed as he stood near Kakashi, Sasuke, Karin, and Sakura.

"Oniisan!" Karin said.

"It's over." Sasuke said.

Naruto and Sakura smiled.

Naruto gave Sakura a thumbs up with his right thumb. "The seal is complete! We can finally celebrate, dattebayo!" he said.

"You're right." Sakura said then closed her eyes as she put her hands together as she started to stretch her arms. "The first thing I want is a hot bath to wash away all this sweat and grime." then opened her eyes as she separated her hands then pointed to herself as she suddenly became shocked. "Hold on a sec! What about us?! How are we supposed to get out of this Time-Space?!"

Naruto became surprised as he raised his arms midway. "Oh no! You're right! This is bad! This is bad!" he said.

"He does whatever needs to get done. But he's still pretty dumb, isn't he?" Son Goku asked.

Karin suddenly felt multiple auras. "You can stop worrying you 2." she said.

Everyone looked at Karin as Naruto and Sakura lowered their arms as they stopped being surprised.

"I suddenly fell like we're going back." Karin said.

Everyone suddenly disappeared.

...

War Grounds.

From left to right, Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto, Karin, and Sasuke were facing Hagoromo, who was sitting down as he levitated with his staff behind him, as they stood a few feet away from him.

The 9 Tailed Beasts stood around them in a circle.

Kakashi, Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura looked around to see the spirits of the former kages and the 3 reanimated former Hokages before they looked back at Hagoromo.

Naruto looked to see Hiruzen.

"Welcome home, Naruto." Hiruzen said, smiling.

"Gramps..." Naruto said.

Hashirama heard a noise as he looked behind him to see Madara laying on the ground.

Sakura placed her left hand near her face as she whispered to Naruto. "Naruto, who's this?" she asked, pointing her right index finger at Hagoromo.

Naruto looked at Sakura for a moment before he looked at Hagoromo. "6 Paths Super Gramps!" he said.

Sakura lowered her arms.

"Which means..." Naruto said.

"That right, you're back in your world through a Summoning performed by all prior 5 Kage together. I recalled all of the previous 5 Kage from the afterworld to help. Naruto, Sasuke... and the rest of you... Excellent work saving the world." Hagoromo said.

"6 Paths Super Gramps?" Sakura questioned.

"Are you by any chance the legendary...?" Kakashi asked.

"I am Hagoromo Otsutsuki. Also known as the Sage of the 6 Paths." Hagoromo said.

"I can't believe it." Karin said, a little surprised.

Sakura looked down. "No wonder... you're levitating. At this point, nothing shocks me anymore." she said.

"It seems like everything went well." the first Raikage said.

"The Shinobi World sure went to hell while we were dead. Damn it!" the first Tsuchikage said.

"It's the first time I've seen so many Tailed Beasts together in one place!" the first Mizukage said.

"The Sage of the 6 Paths, eh... It feels like we've wandered into a fairy tale!" the first Kazekage said.

"So you are the one, after all. Summoning the past 5 Kage here and... being able to bring the Tailed Beasts and us back from the other Time-Space... You're probably the only person who could perform such godly actions." Kakashi said.

"Are you Kakashi Hatake?" Hagoromo asked.

"Oh... yes." Kakashi said.

"Good job guiding everyone and sealing my mother away. That truly was the work of gods." Hagoromo said.

"Oh, no. I hardly played any part at all." Kakashi said then looked at Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura. "It was these 4 and many comrades." then looked down. "And... a former friend also lent me strength."

"That's why I said you guided everyone well. Despite losing your way, you remained Naruto's teacher and Obito's friend. Or else, you likely wouldn't have succeeded in stopping my mother." Hagoromo said.

Kakashi looked at Hagoromo.

Naruto suddenly looked at Kurama, smiling. "Hey! Kurama!" he said, raising his left arm then lowered it as he ran over to him. "Were you lonely being separated from me?" then stopped a few meters away, raising his arms. "I missed you!"

Kurama raised his right fist, annoyed. "Don't talk so loud! I wasn't lonely! You have half of me inside you... remember?" he asked then lowered his right arm.

Son Goku looked at Kurama then laughed for a moment.

Kurama and Naruto started to argue.

"Just look at Kurama, all embarrassed and flustered! But this is exactly what I had once envisioned. That there would one day be a shinobi, who could move even the Tailed Beasts to cooperate." Hagoromo said.

"Even Obito's was Naruto's doing... He restored Obito." Kakashi said.

"I see... Then I shall ask Obito to tell me that tale in the afterworld. Is he still...?" Hagoromo asked.

 _..._

 _Kakashi and Obito's consciousness._

 _"I'm gonna get going soon." Obito said._

 _"Yeah..." Kakashi said._

 _"I really made a mess out of the Shinobi World." Obito said then closed his eyes. "So much that I don't even know what to say to you before I go."_

 _Kakashi closed his eyes, smiling. "We're able to say goodbye as friends, not enemies. To the old you... the one who was always late because you were helping others. That's plenty enough for me." he said._

 _Obito opened his eyes then looked down for a moment before looked at Kakashi again, smiling. "Thanks, Kakashi. I'll be going then. I've been keeping Rin waiting." he said then his chakra started to fade away._

 _Kakashi opened his eyes. "Do you have an excuse ready?" he asked._

 _"I told her beforehand I'd be helping you." Obito said._

 _"I see..." Kakashi said, looking down._

 _Obito's chakra completely faded away._

 _"Same here... Thank you, Obito." Kakashi thought as he no longer had Obito's Mangekyo Sharingan anymore as he now had his eyes._

 _The end of Kakashi and Obito's consciousness._

 _..._

Kakashi closed his eyes as he started to walk backwards before Sakura caught Kakashi's right side with both hands.

"Kakashi-Sensei!" Sakura said.

Kakashi opened his eyes and looked at Sakura. "Sakura... Thank you." he said.

Sakura looked at Kakashi's eyes. "Kakashi-Sensei, your eyes!" she said.

Karin suddenly couldn't sense Obito's chakra inside Kakashi anymore. _"So he's gone forever."_ she thought.

Kakashi moved away a little bit. "Yeah... As of today, Kakashi of the Sharingan is no more." he said.

Sasuke suddenly saw Madara before he started to run over to him.

Karin looked at Sasuke. "Where are you going?" she asked.

Sasuke stopped when Hagoromo held up his left arm.

Hashirama, in his usual outfit, walked over to Madara and stopped as he crouched down on the right side of him.

Hagoromo, who lowered his left arm, and Sasuke looked over at Hashirama and Madara.

"Madara was a Jinchuriki. Even if it was temporary... emptied of the Tailed Beast, he won't last long." Hagoromo said.

"It's his fault for trying to use such things." Sasuke said.

Hagoromo and Sasuke looked at each other.

"Sasuke, Naruto... Behold, the end of your predecessors. You should watch this closely." Hagoromo said.

Sasuke looked over at Madara and Hashirama again.

Hashirama looked down at Madara.

"Is that you, Hashirama?" Madara asked.

Hashirama nodded.

"I guess neither you, nor I could achieve what we wanted." Madara said.

"It's never that easy! Our job is to do all that we can, while we're alive. And then, bequeath the rest for future generations to accomplish." Hashirama said.

"So naive... as usual." Madara said, smiing weakly as he chuckled. "You... were always... the optimist. But perhaps... that is the correct path. My dream... was squashed. But your dream... still lives on."

"We were both too hasty. We didn't need to fulfill our dreams ourselves. It was more important to cultivate those who would come after us... to whom we could entrust our dreams." Hashirama said.

"Which means I would have failed anyway. Since I always hated someone... standing behind me..." Madara said.

"When we were kids... You once said we're shinobi and we don't know when we'll die. And that for neither side to die, we'd both have to reveal what's inside of us and pour each other drinks to toast like brothers. But we're both about to die. Right now, we can drink together, as war buddies." Hashirama said.

"War buddies... huh? Well... I guess... that's okay... by..." Madara asked then closed his eyes as he died.

Everyone stayed silent as they watched Madara die.

"This is the perfect moment. I will release the jutsu, free the 5 Kages and those under the Reanimation." Hagoromo said.

"Oh, I almost forgot." Karin said then looked over at Naruto. "Oniisan!"

Naruto looked over at Karin.

"Come over here!" Karin said, smiling.

Naruto looked up at Kurama.

"Go!" Kurama said.

Naruto jumped over to Karin and stood a few feet away from her. "What is it, Karin?" he asked.

"Have you forgotten what today is?"" Karin asked.

Naruto became confused before the sun started to come up as it was dawn now.

Karin suddenly hugged Naruto. "Happy birthday, Oniisan!" she said.

Naruto smiled and closed his eyes before he hugged Karin back. "Yeah... Thank you." he said, opening his eyes.

After a moment, Naruto and Karin stopped hugging each other.

Everyone suddenly watched the reanimated Hokage and Kage spirits started to glow as they started to disappear.

"Goodbye, Gramps." Naruto said, looking at Hiruzen.

"We're leaving the rest to you... Kakashi, Sakur, Karin... Sasuke and Naruto." Hiruzen said then disappeared.

"Third-sama!" Kakashi said.

"Elder Brother, you finally settled things with Madara. As Saru said... let's leave the rest to the next generation." Tobirama said then disappeared.

Hashirama's spirit stayed but his reanimation body fell apart then looked at Naruto. _"Naruto Uzumaki... Sasuke Uchiha... You 2 will probably find a different conclusion than we did. No... make sure you do."_ he thought then disappeared a tree appearing in the 3 former Hokage's places.

The reanimated Hokage and Kage spirits disappeared as the light vanished.

"Now, we're free too!" Son Goku said. "I'm going back to Suirendo!" then laughed for a moment.

"I'm going to seclude myself in a forest." Kokuo said.

"We can finally go back to our homes. It's like a dream." Chomei said.

Kurama looked at Gyuki. "8 Tails, what are you gonna do?" he asked.

"Me? Well... I think I'm gonna go back to Bee. Even his annoying rap has ended up growing on me. So, what about you?" Gyuki asked.

"Hm?" Kurama asked.

"What will you do?" Gyuki asked.

"I'll..." Kurama said then looked at Naruto. "A little piece of each of your chakra... is already within Naruto. In short, Naruto is like a gathering place for you. If you want to discuss something, you can speak to each other through your chakra inside Naruto. Kurama..." Hagoromo said.

Kurama looked at Hagoromo. "Hmm?" he asked.

"I'd like you to stay inside Naruto as the overseer of gathering place." Hagoromo said.

Kurama became confused.

"It's no longer a hardship for you anymore, is it?" Hagoromo asked.

"Well, if you say so, old man, I guess I have no choice." Kurama said.

The 8 Tailed Beasts laughed at Kurama.

Kurama became annoyed. "What?! What's so funny?" he asked.

"Still not upfront with your feelings... You haven't changed at all, Kurama." Kokuo said.

Naruto smiled.

Karin started to walk over to Sasuke.

Sakura smiled as she continued to hold Kakashi. "So the Great Ninja War is finally over now." she said.

"Yes. All that's left is..." Kakashi said.

Hagoromo looked at Naruto. "Naruto and Sasuke... I asked you before. After battling my mother Kaguya, is there any change to the answers you gave me?" he asked.

"My answer's the same. And I'm sorry, Super Gramps, but there is one thing I feel strongly about after fighting Kaguya... I'm really glad that Kushina Uzumaki is my mom. Kaguya was different from anyone I've ever battled. It's like she didn't have a heart at all." Naruto said.

"It's said my mother Kaguya started off as a goddess of the people. I don't know for sure what caused her to transform into a being that came to be called a demon. I suspect something was triggered the moment she devoured the Chakra Fruit. In any case, you are not like my mother. I trust you not to become like her, even with all of the Tailed Beast Chakra within you. Now then, all that's left is... to undo the Infinite Tsukuyomi." Hagoromo said.

"But how, specifically? Do you need our powers?" Kurama asked.

"No, you're fine. Naruto has the chakra of every Tailed Beast. And Sasuke possesses the Rinnegan. If they both weave the sign for rat simultaneously, the jutsu will be undone." Hagoromo said.

"What? That's it? It's so simple." Kurama asked.

"I researched thoroughly how to undo Mother's Infinite Tsukuyomi. There's no mistake. Now then, the rest is up to you, Sasuke." Hagoromo said, looking at Sasuke.

Karin stopped near Sasuke as she looked up at the cocooned people in the tree. _"Are families and clans and other will finally be released."_ she thought.

Sasuke stood in silence for a moment. "Yes... But first, I'm executing the current 5 Kage inside the Infinite Tsukuyomi." he said.

Everyone looked at Sasuke surprised.

"What did you just say, Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura looked at Kakashi.

"What about the 5 Kage?" Hagoromo asked.

"Oh, and... I'm putting all of you Tailed Beasts under my control..." Sasuke said.

"What did you say?!" Kurama asked, trying to reach for Sasuke with his right hand.

Sasuke used his Rinnegan to make the 9 Tailed Beasts stop moving as he placed them under a genjutsu.

Naruto looked at Kurama. "Kurama!" he said.

"He put the Tailed Beasts in a genjutsu... and with a single glance too. Naruto, it has ended up as I expected." Hagoromo said.

Naruto looked at Hagoromo.

"I have no choice but to leave the rest to you. I cannot stay in this world any longer. I shall soon fade away." Hagoromo said.

"Yeah, and sorry for saying this, 6 Paths Super Gramps... but we won't end up like your sons. I'm not Ashura. And Sasuke isn't Indra either." Naruto said.

"Sasuke! Is this what your current dream is?" Kakashi asked.

Sakura released Kakashi as she placed her right fist near her chest.

Sasuke looked at Kakashi, Karin, and Sakura.

"Are you saying you're still seeking vengeance?" Kakashi asked.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura said.

"Please don't." Karin said.

"I admit, at one time, all I wished for was destruction, and vengeance was my goal. But I feel differently now. I want to destroy, and rebuild. A village no longer shrouded in darkness. I'll reform the shinobi world." Sasuke said.

Kurama tried to move but couldn't.

"What I'm touting is... revolution!" Sasuke said.

"Revolution?!" Kakashi asked.

Hagoromo started to remember the conversation he had with Sasuke earlier.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _Sasuke's conscious._

 _"My dear Sasuke, what do you want to do? What is it that you seek in the aftermath of this war? I want to hear your honest thoughts and opinions."_

 _End of Flashback._

 _..._

Sakura suddenly remembered what Sasuke said earlier.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"All of the previous Kage created these current circumstances. So I will become Hokage and change the village." Sasuke said._

 _End of Flashback._

 _..._

Hagoromo remembered more of his conversation with Sasuke.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"This Hokage you speak of... What do you mean by it?" Hagoromo asked._

 _"If you want to know so badly, I'll tell you." Sasuke said._

 _End of Flashback._

 _..._

Sasuke put his hands together. "Catastrophic Planetary Devastation!" he said.

Some wind happened before the rocks on the ground came up then covered the 9 Tailed Beasts.

"Naruto... It's on you!" Kurama said before he was covered in more rocks.

"I swear I'll get you all out!" Naruto said. "Just hang in there a little while longer!" then jumped to the ground.

As the rocks completely formed around the 9 Tailed Beasts as it made 9 small planets rose to the air.

"Because of this war, I've become quite adept at using my Rinnegan's abilities. And all those who were in my way are gone." Sasuke said.

Naruto landed near Sasuke a few meters away.

"Except for you... Naruto." Sasuke said.

"Things just don't go as planned. When I bequeathed power to just one side, I ended up with Indra and Ashura. This time, even after entrusting power to both, the result is the same." Hagoromo said.

Naruto sighed. "Nope... All sibling squabbling ends right here, dattebayo! Let the Tailed Beasts go. They've finally gained freedom." he said then remembered the past. "I'm friends with them, I know. They won't cause trouble anymore."

"Naruto, you don't seem to get it." Sasuke said, lowering his arms. "You're now the Jinchuriki of all the Tailed Beasts. Which means I plan to eventually get rid of the Tailed Beast Chakra inside of you too."

Kakashi, Karin, and Sakura became surprised again.

"What?!" Sakura asked.

"No!" Karin said.

"In other words, you're going to die, Naruto. Out of necessity." Sasuke said.

Naruto remained silent.

"If what the Sage said was true, there's no need to use the Tailed Beast power inside you to release the Infinite Tsukuyomi." Sasuke said, raising his right hand. "I can take advantage of the Tailed Beasts that I captured. I'll let them live until then." then lowered his left arm.

"You know that I won't let you do that, right?" Naruto asked.

"I guess I'll have to deal with you first, Naruto." Sasuke said then turned around before he walked away. "Let's move this elsewhere. You know, don't you?"

Kakashi held up his right hand. "Wait, Sasuke!" he said then crouched down on his knees and hands.

Sakura stepped towards Kakashi and crouched down on the right side of him. "Sensei!" she said, placing her hands on Kakashi's right shoulder.

 _"The lingering aftereffects of the Sharingan..."_ Kakashi thought.

Sasuke stopped when he saw Karin standing a few feet away from him, looking at him concerned. "Karin, are you going to stop me?" he asked.

"No, I'm not. You and Oniisan need to fight. I think you need to settle things once and for all. Besides, I couldn't stop you 2 even if I wanted to. But please don't go through with your plan, I don't want to lose more people I care about in my life." Karin said.

Sasuke continued to look at Karin before he walked past her on the right side.

Sakura watched Sasuke and Karin talk before Sasuke walked away then looked down sadly as she started to cry. She looked at Sasuke serious as the tears ran down her face.

Kakashi saw Sakura make her left hand into a fist.

"I... I know in my heart that there's nothing I can do! Even though I love you. Even though I care about you so much, Sasuke-kun. And yet... I can't get close to you or exchange blows with you. I can only whine and beg and cry like this again." Sakura then closed her eyes for a moment. "It's so pitiful, isn't it?" then remembered something from the past. "But... But Sasuke-kun! Even if you're in love with Karin, but if there's even a little corner of your heart that thinks about me, please don't leave again! If we stick together, I know it can be like old times again..."

Sasuke stopped walking as he looked at Sakura. "You're... really annoying." he said then used his Rinnegan to place Sakura in a genjutsu.

Sakura's eyes widened before she started to sway as her eyes began to close. She closed her eyes before she fell on the ground, unconscious now.

Kakashi looked at Sakura. "Sakura!" he said.

Naruto and Karin looked at Sasuke.

Naruto raised his left fist, annoyed. "You didn't need to put Sakura-chan under genjutsu!" he said.

"If I didn't, she would've chased after us, and gotten in the way." Sasuke said, looking at Naruto.

Kakashi placed his right hand on Sakura's right shoulder. "Sakura... Sakura just wanted to help you as well, all this time." he said.

"You know I'm with Karin and I don't love her or want to be loved by her." Sasuke said.

"The only time you need a reason is when you hate someone! And despite dating Karin, Sakura's not trying to make you hers! She just wants to help you! She almost died by your hand. But she still thinks of your welfare and sheds tears for you... because she suffers from loving you!" Kakashi said.

Karin suddenly became sad.

Sasuke started to remember something.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _9 years ago._

 _Day Time._

 _Uchiha Clan compound._

 _Fugaku and Mikoto's House._

 _Sasuke, 8 years old and in his old usual outfit, was sitting down at the table with chopsticks in his right hand. Mikoto, 35 years old and in her usual outfit and yellow apron, was standing in front of the sink as she was washing dishes with both hands._

 _The food that Mikoto mada was sitting on the table._

 _Sasuke looked down at food sadly. "Mom..." he said._

 _Mikoto stopped washing the dishes as she looked at Sasuke on the left side. "Hm?" she questioned._

 _"How does Dad really feel about Niisan and me?" Sasuke asked._

 _Mikoto looked at her youngest son more. "What makes you ask that out of the blue?" she asked then rubbed her hands on her lower apron._

 _"The other day, he said to me, 'That's my boy'. He usually says that to Niisan, so I was really happy." Sasuke said._

 _Mikoto smiled as she closed her eyes, lowering her arms. "Is that so? That's nice." she asked._

 _"But recently, Dad and Niisan haven't been getting along, so..." Sasuke said._

 _Mikoto opened her eyes and frowned._

 _"I thought maybe I'm just a stand-in for Niisan..." Sasuke said._

 _Mikoto closed her eyes and sighed before she opened her eyes, raising her hands. "Your brother is your brother, and you are you." she said._

 _Sasuke looked at his mother._

 _Mikoto lowered arms and placed them behind her back as she turned to the right, smiling a little bit. "Your father is always thinking about the both of you." she said._

 _"Then why is it always about Niisan?!" Sasuke asked._

 _"That's not the case." Mikoto said then turned to Sasuke. "Your father represents our clan, and he's expected to protect the Uchiha Clan."_

 _"So what?" Sasuke asked._

 _Mikoto removed her arms from her back as she lowered her arms. "It's just that Itachi is older than you, and your senior." she said then raised her hands. "So he's given more duties relating to the clan. Since your father oversees those duties, it's only natural that his eyes will be more focused on Itachi." then closed her eyes as she pointed her right index finger at her face, lowering her left arm. "But this is between us... When your father is with me, all he talks about is you."_

 _Sasuke became surprised as he blushed a little bit._

 _Mikoto opened her eyes as she placed her right hand near her chest. "He's always so serious, and just not very good at expressing his feelings." she said, putting her hands together behind your back._

 _Sasuke looked down and smiled as he remembered dinner with his family._

 _..._

 _Sasuke and Karin, 7 years old and in her old usual outfit, were sitting on one of the benches, away from the other students so they could eat in peace. Sasuke opened his bento box with his right hand as he held it with his left hand._

 _Sasuke put the top of the bento box in between them. "Here you choose first." he said smiling, showing Karin the insides of the box._

 _"T-thank you." Karin said then looked down and saw many Onigiri, Kyaraben, fish, and other foods in the bento box._

 _Karin reached with her right hand and pulled out one of the Onigiri then softly took a bite. Sasuke used his right hand and pulled out a Onigiri too. As Karin was eating, she looked up to see Sasuke was smiling at her._

 _Karin blushed softly and looked away from Sasuke. "I-It's delicious." she said shyly._

 _"My Mother made them." Sasuke said then took a bite out of his Onigiri._

 _"It was great that you can make 2 clones and seek away without being seen." Karin said._

 _"Thanks, I've been practicing with Niisan and Shisui sometimes." Sasuke said._

 _"Oh." Karin said._

 _Sasuke and Karin talked more while they are from Sasuke's bento box._

 _..._

 _Sasuke was at the shoji doors, putting on his sandals as he had his bag on his right shoulder._

 _Mikoto was behind Sasuke as she had her left hand on her left hip as she held a green clothed wrapped bento box, smiling on his left side. "Here's your lunch, Sasuke." she said._

 _Sasuke looked up at Mikoto._

 _"When you come home, I'll watch over your shuriken practice." Mikoto said._

 _Sasuke stood up before he grabbed the clothed wrapped bento box with his left hand. "It's not practice. It's training." he then looked forward as he slid one of the shoji doors open with his right hand and ran out. "I'm leaving!"_

 _"Have a great day!" Mikoto said._

 _..._

 _Day Time._

 _Sasuke and Karin were walking away from the Academy and were holding their report cards. Naruto went to the Hokage's office to see his father about his work._

 _"What kind of grades did you make this time?" Sasuke asked smiling, looking at her. "I know you probably did better than I did."_

 _"I-I don't think I did. My grades have increased a little... but there not on your level..." Karin said shyly._

 _"Let me see." Sasuke said._

 _"U-um o-okay." Karin said, handing him her report card with her left hand._

 _Sasuke took it with his right hand and and looked at both his and hers. He saw that she was higher than him when it came to history, mathematics, intelligence, stamina, hand seals, and chakra control but other activities he was better than her._

 _"These are really great." Sasuke said, looking at her._

 _"Yours is better than mine." Karin said._

 _"You're the smartest person in the class, you always make 100s on every test we've have." Sasuke said smiling. "And you know more jutsus than I do."_

 _Karin blushed furiously as she looked away to the left. "Th-thank y-you, S-sasuke." she said shyly._

 _Sasuke gave Karin's report card back to her. "I'll see you later, Karin." he said._

 _"You too, S-sasuke." Karin said shyly._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _.._.

"Perhaps, some of them are the ties to a failed past." Sasuke said.

Karin looked down, becoming a little more sad.

Sasuke looked forward and jumped away.

"Sasuke!" Kakashi thought.

"I made a promise." Naruto said.

Kakashi looked at Naruto.

"Long ago... to Sakura-chan." Naruto said.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _Night Time._

 _1 and 1/2 years._

 _Naruto, 15 years old and in his usual outfit, smiling and closing his eyes as he raised his right thumb. "I'll definitely bring Sasuke back! I swear on my life, dattebayo!" he said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

"Sensei! You know about my Ninja Way, right? I'm gonna go." Naruto asked then jumped forward then landed on the left side of Karin. "Don't worry, Karin. No one's going to die." he said then jumped after Sasuke.

Karin lifted her head as she and Kakashi watched as Naruto jumped away.

"Yeah... We're counting on you." Kakashi said.

"Oniisan. Sasuke!" Karin said.

Sasuke was running through the forest.

"Love is a difficult thing... I once had 2 sons. I loved them both, and they loved and revered me. But I entrusted everything to the younger brother. That became the impetus for the older brother to begin hating his brother and me. Love transformed into hate." Hagoromo said.

Kakashi laid Sakura on her back as he crouched down on the right side of her, placing his left hand on the right side of her face.

Karin looked at Hagoromo.

"What molded the current Sasuke, is none other than his loss of love in the past. Madara was the same too." Hagoromo said.

Kakashi looked at Hagoromo. "Are you saying that Sasuke shares the same fate as Madara?" he asked.

"No, not at all. I, too, want to make the future better in my own way. Having learned from past mistakes, this time I gave both of them the power. The past does not exist to remind the present that the future cannot change. The past is supposed to exist for the sake of the future." Hagoromo said.

"How did you see the potential within Naruto?" Kakashi asked.

"Naruto Uzumaki... The boy was able to save and befriend Kurama, who had become a concretion of hatred. I shall let Naruto handle this. Since I hope that hate can be transformed into love this time. Or rather, I have hope that love can be regained. Because, unlike my mother, Naruto as well as Sasuke... know what love is." Hagoromo said.

Karin looked forward and closed her eyes then sighed before she opened her eyes and turned around and walked over to where Hagoromo, Kakashi, and Sakura were. _"I really hope Oniisan and Sasuke end this once and for all."_ she thought. _"And don't kill one another."_

...

Finally Valley.

Sasuke was standing on top of the Monument Madara's head while Naruto was standing on top of the Monument Hashirama's head.

"This place, huh?" I should've figured. Doesn't it bring back memories, Sasuke? Long ago, we fought here." Naruto asked.

"And just like before, you're going to lose." Sasuke said.

"You won't be hitting me with that same punch as last time! I'm not about to let you get away with whatever you want. I won't let you become the Hokage, either! You don't even understand what it means to be Hokage!" Naruto said.

"I told you, that to me, being Hokage means revolution. It's totally different from what you think." Sasuke said.

"Let me tell you something your big brother said... It's not the one who becomes Hokage who gets acknowledged by all. But it's the one acknowledged by all who becomes Hokage." Naruto said.

"I learned not from Itachi's words, but from the way he lived his life. You and I came up with different answers. Let me clarify this before we battle... I'll teach you exactly what being Hokage means to me." Sasuke said.

Naruto became surprised then he suddenly imagined Neji, in the Konoha flak jacket uniform, standing in front of him.

"Naruto... Sometimes your eyes are better than mine. Sasuke is in the darkness right now... Go... You're the only one who can save him." Neji said then he disappeared.

"Yeah... I know, dattebayo." Naruto said.

Sasuke caught a floating leaf with his right hand before it flew into it. "My explanation of what it means to be Hokage represents my response. The way Itachi lived led me to this answer. To protect the Land of Fire and the Leaf Village, he sacrificed half of the Uchiha and Uzumaki clans, and himself. First, I needed to know why. What is this Land and Village that he would go as far to protect? The previous Hokage said... that the village is a framework created to stop the slaughter of clans and children... a framework that was supposed to lead to peace. Itachi tried to sustain that peace all by himself. That's when I finally understood... Suffering bitter experiences, living in darkness as a criminal and traitor against Land and Village... He was a shinobi who took on all hatred and protected the Land of Fire and the Leaf Village from the shadows. I feel he was the true Hokage." he asked then crushed the leaf. "It's not the one who is acknowledge by all... but the one who accepts all the hatred that is worthy of that title." then lowered his right arm. "I eventually came to understand Itachi's feelings for his Land and Village. My big brother failed in just a few aspects. He let the other half of the Uchiha and Uzumaki clans live. Unable to hide the truth from me, he allowed the hatred to dissemination. However... I'm not like my Niisan anymore. I still have my father, mother, and half of my clan but I have no brother and the other half of my clan." then raised his right fist. "I am alone right now." then opened his right hand as the crumbled leaf flew away, raising both of his arms. "I alone can bear the weight of all the hatred now. And I alone will deal with everything personally. I will handle all of the shinobi's problems. I will also dispense all judgement and punishment. I'll concentrate all hatred upon myself... and bring together every single village under my control. Hatred inside darkness cannot be eliminated. In which case, I'd rather..." then looked down for a moment and looked back up. "That's right... What the Hokage is to me... is someone who will sear away the darkness of all 5 Villages with only his own flame. And then keeps living by eating the ashes."

"And you think everyone will just sit back and say 'yes' to that?" Naruto asked.

"I told you already... I don't care what you or anyone else thinks. Besides, I have the power now to control it all." Sasuke said.

"You don't have a clue about how Itachi lived! There are things you can't do alone! Just like our battle with Kaguya!" Naruto said.

"But things don't always go well... Like with these 2 stone statues." Sasuke said. "And us 2 brothers..." he thought. "With evolution... the villages will no longer have to bear darkness. And I alone will become the darkness. I'll dispose of the deep darkness of the past, and build a pure white future from scratch."

"You mean by killing the Tailed Beasts, and the 5 Kage?!" Naruto asked.

"Exactly. I'm casting off the past." Sasuke said.

Naruto became annoyed before he pointed his right index finger at Sasuke. "You're saying you can pretend nothing ever happened with Itachi? You and Itachi were brothers, and a lot happened between you... That's what made you who you are today!" he asked, lowering his right arm.

"Itachi is now in my past. I'm cutting all past mistakes and doubts here, and starting anew." Sasuke said, lowering his arms. "Beginning by cutting you down. Yours will be the last blood I shed, in the memory of my late brother." Sasuke said, raising his left arm.

"I won't... let you kill me. I learned everything I know from the people of my past, dattebayo! Especially about how to figure out what to do after making a mistake." Naruto said then he remembered what Itachi to him.

 _..._

 _Falashback._

 _"You said you consider Sasuke a brother. That's why, Naruto, I believe you are the only one who can stop Sasuke. I'm leaving Sasuke to you." Itachi said as a Reanimation._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

"That's why... I won't let you kill me." Naruto said.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

...

War Grounds.

Sakura, who was still unconscious, was sitting against a large rock as Kakashi was crouching down on the left side of her and Karin was sitting against the rock on the right side of her. Kakashi and Karin looked at Hagoromo, who began to flicker.

"Sage-sama!" Kakashi said.

"It seems it's almost time." Hagoromo said.

"What... What should we be doing?" Kakashi asked.

"Just continue to have faith. Right now, that is all we can do." Hagoromo said.

Kakashi looked at Karin, who was looking down at the ground, for a moment before he looked down.

Hagoromo started to remember himself in Sasuke and Naruto's consciousness.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _"What you do and what transpires, will be up to the 2 of you." Hagoromo said to Naruto._

 _Naruto smiled. "Sasuke and I aren't real brothers, but I think we can make peace with each other." he said._

 _..._

 _"Now that Itachi's gone, I suddenly feel like I'm finally, truly alone, despite my parents being alive. But with Naruto, he's the one person I have to cut down. My version of the Hokage can only come to be by severing all bonds and being alone." Sasuke said._

 _"Why?" Hagoromo asked._

 _..._

 _Naruto's Consciousness._

 _"Because..." Naruto said._

 _..._

 _Sasuke's Consciousness._

 _"Because to me..." Sasuke said._

 _..._

 _Naruto's Consciousness._

 _"... we're really good friends." Naruto said._

 _..._

 _Sasuke's Consciousness._

 _"... he is still my closest friend." Sasuke said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

Hagoromo closed his eyes as chakra surrounded him.

Kakashi stood up as he and Karin watched Hagoromo disappearing.

 _"Naruto... Sasuke... Show me your answer... Show me the answer for all shinobi!"_ Hagoromo thought then disappeared.

...

Final Valley.

Sasuke and Naruto stood in silence before they ran off of the statues to each other. They ran on the water to each other before they started to fight.

Sasuke and Naruto's left forearms pressed together before they went to punch each other with their right fists then separated as a gust of wind happened then came at each again.

Sasuke kicked Naruto with his left leg but Naruto blocked it with his right forearm then Sasuke tried to grab Naruto with his left hand but Naruto blocked him with his left arm. Naruto tried to punch Sasuke will his left fist but Sasuke dodged it but moving backwards before he tried to grab Naruto again with both hands but Naruto blocked him with with both of his arms. Sasuke and Naruto were trying to punch each other and block one another.

Sasuke grabbed Naruto's left hand with his right hand as they made the horse hand sign. Naruto became annoyed before he tried to hit Sasuke with his right arm but Sasuke dodged it by ducking and hit Naruto in the face with his left hand, making Naruto fall back as Sasuke grabbed Naruto's right hand with his left hand as they made the bird hand sign. Naruto ducked before Sasuke kicked him in the face with his left leg and his stomach before he released him and jumped away as he summoned a fire ball from his mouth at Naruto, who dodged it as Sasuke shot more fireballs at him as he dodged.

Naruto jumped and stood up on a rock wall before Sasuke threw a wire wrapped kunai at the rock wall on the left side of Naruto with his left hand when Naruto tried to make hand signs and jumped on the wall and stood up on it. Sasuke started to attack Naruto when he tried to make hand signs but Naruto blocked the attacks with his arms. Sasuke kicked Naruto off of the rock wall with his right leg.

As Naruto was falling off the rock, he put his hands together as he made a hand signs for multiple shadow then landed on the water and tossed his shadow clones at Sasuke with both arms.

Sasuke dodged the first Naruto clone and kicked the second one out of the way with his right leg but the 3rd one grabbed his left foot with his left hand before Sasuke threw him away. Sasuke dodged the 4th one before Naruto flew up and grabbed Sasuke with both hands and went to the other rock wall and threw Sasuke, who spinned and landed on the it with his back against it as he made a crater. Sasuke suddenly saw Naruto in the air with a Rasengan in both of his hands. Naruto went towards and tried to attack him with both Rasengans but Sasuke dodged by moving out of the way, making Naruto crash into the wall.

Sasuke was suddenly fighting off 3 Naruto clones who had Rasengans in their right Hands as more came. After awhile as Sasuke fended off the Naruto clones, the real Naruto came flew at him but Sasuke blocked Naruto with both arms. Sasuke lowered his arms and kicked Naruto away with his left leg then used his Rinnegan. Naruto and his shadows moved away but Sasuke held out his arms as the Naruto and his clones froze in midway before they were literally drawn to Sasuke then stopped near him.

Sasuke looked down. "Blaze Release: Fire Lightning!" he said then black flames spikes came out of him as it pierced the 3 Naruto clones.

Naruto, who was using his 9 Tailed chakra powered left hand to not be pierced, tried to punch Sasuke with his right fist but Sasuke blocked the attack with his right hand. Naruto yelled as 2 9 Tailed chakra powered hands came from his back and put them together and tried to hit Sasuke, making a dust cloud and crater.

Sasuke dodged the attack by moving a few meters back, crouching down. Naruto activated his 9 Tails Sage Mode before he made 2 Sage hands with his right arm to grab Sasuke but Sasuke immediately dodged them by jumping in the air. Naruto made another Sage hand with his left arm to grab Sasuke evaded the arms.

Sasuke made hand signs for the fireball jutsu before he shot a fireball from his mouth at Naruto. Naruto used his right Sage Mode hand to protect himself from Sasuke's fireball, making small craters at his feet. Sasuke used his Rinnegan to teleport behind Naruto. Naruto suddenly ssensedSasuke behind as he turned to the left side to see him.

 _"His left eye is..."_ Naruto thought then lowered his right hand and tried to turn to Sasuke.

Sasuke activated his Chidori with his right hand and hit Naruto, making him crash far into the water. As Naruto came out of the water, he suddenly dodged purple arrow attacks and looked up then became surprised to see Sasuke has the upper part of the Susano'o with the bow and arrow. Sasuke shot another arrow at Naruto. Naruto quickly used some of his Truth-Seeking Orbs to stop Sasuke's Susano'o arrows, making fog. Naruto waited on the water for a moment before the fog suddenly clear to Sasuke with a Complete Body Susano'o that was holding 2 swords before he activated his 9 Tails Mode. Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o started to attack Naruto's 9 Tails Mode with his swords but released the one in his left hand as it fell somewhere in the forest, creating a crater. Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o made a fist with his right hand and Naruto's 9 Tails Mode made a fist with his right hand as they punched each other's right fists. Sasuke and Naruto stood there for a moment before they separated. Naruto tried to hit Sasuke with his 9 Tails Mode's left hand but Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o blocked the attack with his left arm. Sasuke and Naruto attacked each other simultaneously. As Naruto came at Sasuke again, Sasuke used his left arm to push Naruto before he kicked his left foot, making Naruto go back to the other side of the wall. Sasuke shot more fireballs at Naruto, who immediately dodged them by jumping up. Naruto flew down towards Sasuke as his Sage Mode made a fist with his right hand and crashed on Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o. Sasuke and Naruto hit each other simultaneously. Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o swung his 2 swords at Naruto's 9 Tails Mode, striking the water and destroying some of the forest. Naruto's 9 Tails Mode's tails grabbed Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o arms, holding Sasuke from moving.

"What's the matter? Are you just going to play defense?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto's 9 Tails Mode moved away from Sasuke, who flew into the air. 2 of Naruto's 9 Tails Mode grabbed Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o's left foot and tossed him in the water. Naruto's 9 Tails Mode made a Tailed Beast bomb with his mouth as he stood over Sasuke ready to attack him with it. Sasuke laid in the water as he and Naruto were silent for a moment.

Sasuke activated his Chidori with his left hand as lightning came from the sky as it was a Kirin that attacked Naruto's 9 Tails Mode. Naruto grunted in pain as Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o stood up and teleported away. A big splash of water happened as fog appeared.

Sasuke was flying in the air as he watched Naruto come out of the water.

"If you keep stalling, you'll die." Sasuke said.

Naruto slowly stood up from the water. "I don't wanna kill you!" he said then remembered something in the past.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _1 and 1/2 years ago._

 _"To me, you've become my closest friend." Sasuke said._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

"You're trying to be alone again and I can't let that happen!" Naruto said.

Sasuke stood in silence.

"Especially since we both know what that's like... That's why I can't let you..." Naruto said then his 9 Tails Mode made a Tailed Beast Ball with it's mouth again.

Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o activated a Chidori with it's left hand and went towards Naruto, who went towards him.

"... go there... intentionally!" Naruto said.

Sasuke and Naruto attacked each other with their attacks before a bright blue and red explosion happened as it destroyed some of the land.

 _..._

 _Sasuke and Naruto's consciousness._

 _Sasuke and Naruto stood a few meters away from each other, facing one another._

 _"Quit yapping. We're both different from the 2 boys who fought here long ago... I know your heart... and you, mine... Naruto." Sasuke said._

 _"But you still wanna fight me?" Naruto asked._

 _"All the more, because it's you. I have to cut you out of my life." Sasuke said._

 _"There's no guarantee that the world you'll rebuild after severing the past... won't end up just like this one, you know." Naruto said._

 _"That's exactly why I'll continue to watch over that world... So it doesn't." Sasuke said._

 _"You're missing the point! The 5 Kage are finally United!" Naruto said._

 _"Yeah... But that's only because they found a common enemy. To defeat the Akatsuki, Madara, and Kaguya... the 5 Villages had no choice but to discard their grudges and form an alliance in order to survive. But their mutual foes are now gone. Eventually, conflicts between each villages will begin again." Sasuke said._

 _"So this time, you're gonna become the enemy? And? What'll happen after you're gone?" Naruto asked._

 _"Finally, all the dots have connected and formed a straight line. I started with the Sharingan and now, I possess the power of the Rinnegan. Reincarnation, immortality... I have many options. I'll also be able to control things from the shadows, instead of through battle." Sasuke said._

 _"You're planning to return to that hell, for the rest of your life, or rather for all eternity? While being hated by all?" Naruto asked._

 _"To me, that's what a Hokage ought to be." Sasuke said._

 _End of Sasuke and Naruto's Consciousness._

 _..._

Sasuke's Complete Body Susano'o and Naruto's 9 Tails Mode separated as they were missing apart of themselves.

"That's not even close enough to kill me." Sasuke said.

"I told you! I'm not trying to kill you! I'm-!" Naruto said but was cut off.

"Enough." Sasuke said then put his hands together.

Suddenly the 9 Planetary Devastation Cores started to move towards Sasuke.

Naruto suddenly saw the 9 Planetary Devastation Cores before he moved out of their way to see them forming around Sasuke.

Sasuke separated his hands as he held up his right index, middle, and thumb fingers. "I'm the strongest in this world right now. So right now, right here... will be my first step into the shadows." he said.

Naruto became surprised as he looked up at Sasuke and the 9 Planetary Devastation Cores.

Sasuke suddenly channels the sealed 9 Tailed Beasts chakra from Planetary Devastation Cores to his Susano'o, regenerating it's lost parts and power.

"This is bad... He's merging all the chakra that's been scattered into one... And doing it unbelievably well too, almost unrivaled. He's just as good as Old Man 6 Paths... Well, except he's doing the reverse thing... There's no Gedo Statue here, so he's making the Susano'o the receiving vessel. Something incredible is going to emerge... Don't let down your guard, Naruto!" Kurama said.

Sasuke's now Indra Susano'o enhanced itself as it started to take another shape and stopped using the 9 Tailed Beasts chakra from Planetary Devastation Cores

Naruto put his hands together before he made 4 shadows clones that have made the Tailed Beast Modes.

"That jutsu again? Naruto... That jutsu of yours symbolizes your weakness. That's right... It's a jutsu that covers up your loneliness!" Sasuke asked.

Naruto became surprised before Sasuke teleported on the right side of him with his sword raised with both hands and struck it down on Naruto. Naruto crashed into the forest and made a crater before his 4 shadows clones went to attack Sasuke. Sasuke blocked the 3 Naruto clones attacks with the sword and right hand. Sasuke's Indra Susano'o dropped it's sword before the 2 Naruto clones immobilized Sasuke's Indra Susano'o by graabing his arms as the 3rd Naruto clone used it's tails to hit Sasuke in the face then punched him with his left fist.

Sasuke slammed the 2 Naruto clones heads together hard and released them before he made a back flip and kicked the 4th Naruto clone with both leg. Sasuke's Indra Susano'o made another sword and grabbed it with it's left hand and cut off the 3rd Naruto clone's right Tailed Beast Mode arm then punched him in the stomach with it's right fist, sending it to the forest as he made a crater.

"Why that-!" the 3rd Naruto clone said, trying to get up.

Sasuke shot an Indra's Arrow at the 3rd Naruto at it's head and body, destroying it.

Sasuke, Naruto and the 2 Naruto clones fought simultaneously as they were now above the clouds. Sasuke was using Indra's arrows, Naruto and the 2 Naruto shadow clones were Tailed Beast Balls as they were fighting, creating massive explosions. Naruto and his 2 shadow clones received damage to their bodies.

"You only hold a little piece of each Tailed Beast's chakra... You can't win against me now. Nor this..." Sasuke's Indra Susano'o prepared to strike with his next Indra's Arrow.

"Not yet?! Kurama!" Naruto asked.

The 3rd Naruto clone, who completely regenerated, was sitting in the forest as he put his hands together.

"I might have amassed too much, in fact. It's everything that's available. Here it comes!" Kurama said.

The 3rd Naruto clone disappeared as it sends a massive amount of natural energy to Naruto.

 _"Here it comes!"_ Naruto thought.

 _"I can feel it! How did he gain so much Nature Energy so suddenly?"_ Sasuke thought.

Naruto merges the remaining Kurama shadow clones into a single, multi-armed, multi-faced avatar.

"Let's do this!" Kurama said.

"Yeah!" Naruto said, separating his hands as he started creating a massive Rasenshuriken in it's right hand and Tailed Beast Ball Rasenshuriken in it's left hand as it was making a Six Paths: Ultra-Big Ball Spiralling Shuriken.

"You finally decided to kill me, huh?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto lowered his arms. "We've taken on a lot of responsibilites upon our shoulders..." he said, remembering something from the past. "But you see, I... I wanna fight, and win against you fair and square! But... not against the current you! You already know that too... right, Sasuke!" then threw the massive Rasenshuriken and the Tailed Beast Ball Rasenshuriken at Sasuke as it made the Six Paths: Ultra-Big Ball Spiralling Shuriken.

Sasuke's Indra Susano'o shot an arrow at the Six Paths: Ultra-Big Ball Spiralling Shuriken.

 _"This fight with you right now, will be my last. Indra's Arrow... Currently the most powerful jutsu in my arsenal..."_ Sasuke thought.

Indra's Arrow and the Six Paths: Ultra-Big Ball Spiralling Shuriken clashed as they turned red before causing a titanic explosion.

Sasuke covered his face with his right arm. "So just... die. Just be gone already!" he thought.

The Finally Valley was being heavily damaged as lightning was striking everywhere.

...

War Grounds.

Kakashi and Karin suddenly looked in the battling direction before a dust cloud came over them, closing their eyes.

 _"Oniisan and Sasuke are battling with so much chakra...!"_ Karin thought.

After a moment the dust cloud disappeared around them.

Kakashi looked at the unconscious Sakura before he and Karin looked up at the battling direction again.

...

Finally Valley.

Sasuke and Naruto crash down in the heavily damaged statues as their Susano'o and Tailed Beast Mode and clones disappeared, exhausted as they landed on each side.

Sasuke slowly crouched down on his arms and knees to see Naruto, who was crouching down panting, on the otherside while panting. "Damn it... You're not-!" he said, crouching up.

Naruto put his hands together.

"Naruto! If my Nature Energy didn't make it to you in time, you'd have been blown away just now! And your chakra's already long been drained from-" Kurama said.

Sasuke activated his Rinnegan as his left eye started to bleed. "Amaterasu!" he said.

The black flames appeared on Naruto's right arm.

Sasuke noticed Naruto, who was standing up, separated his arms as his right arm was coated in Kurama's chakra. Naruto threw them aside then slowly walked towards Sasuke.

Sasuke smirked for a moment. _"Only a diversion, huh? I can't actually take him down with this..."_ he thought then put his hands together. _"I need the Tailed Beasts..."_ then his Rinnegan started to hurt before he separated his hands and clutched his left eye with his left hand, grunting in pain as he closed his eyes. "I've used too much chakra... can't maintain control! At this rate, I can't use my left eye's abilities either!" then he heard water splashing and he looked with his right eye to see Naruto coming towards him and kicked him in the face with his right face.

Sasuke took his left hand off of his face as he was sent flying backwards. Naruto made 3 more shadow clones before they started to beat up Sasuke in the air. Naruto jumped into the air as he was about to punch Sasuke's back.

Sasuke looked behind himself before he punched Naruto in the face with his right fist and Naruto punched Sasuke in the face with his right fist. Naruto landed on the ground while his shadow clones went after Sasuke.

Sasuke quickly took off his right wrist warmer with his left hand to reveal a seal before 6 electrified shurikens came out of it as he grabbed them with both hands and threw them at the 3 Naruto clones as he rolled on the ground.

The 3 Naruto clones became paralyzed as Sasuke stood up and activated his Chidori with his left hand then went after the 3 Naruto clones before he made them disappear.

Sasuke became shocked the 3 Naruto clone didn't disappear before Naruto came up on the left side of Sasuke and punched him with his right fist as Naruto's clone disappeared. Sasuke tumbled on the ground before he crouched down.

Naruto started to activated his Rasengan with his right hand, panting as he went after Sasuke. Sasuke's Sharingan deactivated and his left eye closed before he looked down to see his Chidori deactivating as well.

Naruto yelled for a moment before stumble with his Rasengan a few feet away from Sasuke as his Rasengan disappeared.

Sasuke stood up and stepped in front of Naruto before he kicked him in his face with his right foot on his back before he walked over and sat on top of Naruto. Naruto placed his left hand on Sasuke's face to push him away Sasuke punched him with his right fist, makingt Naruto lower his left arm. Sasuke begins punching Naruto repeatedly with both fists before he looked down to see Naruto looking up at him then raised his right fist to punch Naruto again but Naruto grabbed Sasuke's collar with both hands and headbutts him and released him before he kicked him away with his right leg. Naruto started to get up.

Sasuke slowly raised his upper half to see Naruto standing a few meters away from him. Naruto wiped his face with his left arm.

 _"He's still not-!"_ Sasuke thought then started to stand up. "Give it up already..." he said then went over to Naruto.

Naruto sighed before he went over to Sasuke.

"Naruto!" Sasuke said.

"Sasuke!" Naruto said.

Sasuke and Naruto punched each other's faces and bodies repeatedly as they started to spill blood and Naruto lost a tooth on the ground.

...

War Grounds.

Sunset.

Sakura remembered when she was 7 of Sasuke and Naruto sparing in the Academy before she woke up.

"You're finally awake." Kakashi said.

Sakura looked to see Kakashi and Sakura near her before she looked up at the sun. "It's dusk already." she said then she gasped when she remembered something, looking at Kakashi. "Where are Sasuke-kun and Naruto?"

Karin looked down.

"They're currently fighting their final battle... in order to settle things for good." Kakashi said.

"But they're losing a lot of chakra." Karin said.

Sakura looked at Karin for a moment before she looked down at the ground, sadly.

...

Final Valley.

Sasuke and Naruto continued to fight as they'rebarely able to stand, or even land hits on one another. After awhile, Sasuke barely punched Naruto's stomach with his right fist and Naruto was barely punched the top of Sasuke's forehead with his right fist, panting before they crouched down on the ground. Naruto's headband unwrapped around Naruto's forehead and landed in the water.

"Hang in there! It's not much but I've finished infusing some more chakra-!" Kurama said then stopped talking.

Naruto looked down to see Sasuke stealing Kurama's chakra with his right fist, making Naruto weak.

"This is one of the abilities of the Rinnegan." Sasuke said.

Naruto slowly went to the water as he released Sasuke.

"As someone who possesses the eyes of the Uchiha... My victory is inevitable." Sasuke said then stood up as he grabbed his left arm with his right as he activated his Chidori with his left hand. _"Now, I can finally be alone!"_ he thought.

Naruto panted.

"Farewell..." Sasuke said, activating his Sharingan in his right eye. "My one and only... friend!" then raised his left arm as he went to attack Naruto with his Chidori.

Naruto suddenly looked up at Sasuke, who's Sharingan was deactivated, before he quickly uppercuts Sasuke with his left fist, sensing him crashing into the upper rock wall.

Naruto stood up for a moment before crouched down.

"That was a great counter! You didn't miss the fact that his Visual Prowess is weakened!" Kurama said.

Naruto picked up his forehead protector with his right hand and placed it in his right back pocket before looked up at Sasuke.

Sasuke stood up from the inside of the crater. "Over and... over and... over and... over and... over and... over and over and over and over again!" he said. "Just give up and let me cut you down!" looking down at Naruto.

Naruto stood up. "Can't do that. 'Cuz I'm your one and only friend!" he said.

Sasuke closed his eyes for a moment then sighed opening his eyes, activating a Blaze Release: Chidori with his left hand.

"I figured as much... He's assimilated the chakra I created and infused for you, and made it his own... And now Flame Control... He intends to finish this with one last blast. Listen, I'm giving what remains of my own chakra..." Kurama said.

Naruto looked behind himself at Kurama.

"Once I do that, it's gonna put me to sleep. Don't unleash your jutsu until the last minute, so he doesn't absorb more chakra from you. Well, not that he can use his newly awakened Rinnegan to absorb chakra while putting out his own jutsu..." Kurama said then looked down to see Naruto smiling at him.

Naruto raised his left fist.

Kurama smiled before he raised his right fist at Naruto's left fist before they bumped. After a moment, Naruto lowered his left arm and walked forward.

Kurama lowered his right arm as he remembered something from the past. _"Now go... You're the one and only for us too... That's why Sasuke is..."_ he thought, closing his eyes.

Naruto suddenly stopped walking.

Sasuke and Naruto stood in silence then a leaf slowly fell from the sky and landed on the water and the 2 ran towards each other.

As Naruto raised his right hand and was creating the final Rasengan, images of Jiraiya; Minato; Kushina; Karin; Ino, Shikamaru, and Chōji; Kiba, Hinata, and Shino; Lee, Tenten, Neji, and Might Guy; Killer B, Gaara, Tsunade, Mei Terumī, A (Fourth Raikage), and Ōnoki; Iruka Umino, Hiruzen, and Konohamaru; Sai and Yamato; Obito; Kakashi; and Sakura's hands swirled around it as it was fully complete

Sasuke finished his Blaze Release: Chidori as images of Fugaku, Mikoto, Itachi, and Karin's hands appeared for a moment around it.

Sasuke and Naruto yelled for a moment as they made it to each other, their attacks clashed as an explosion happened, destroying what little is left from the Valley of the End.

...

Sasuke and Naruto's Consciousness.

From left to right, Sasuke and Naruto were now looking at a memory when they were sparring with one another in the Academy, both refusing to perform the Unison Sign at the end.

"What is this?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke and Naruto were thinking back to their memory in the Land of Iron.

"Sasuke... If you and I fight... We'll both... die." Naruto said.

Sasuke and Naruto started to remember the places they visited together.

"Am I dead?" Sasuke asked.

"This sensation... It must be... Probably." Naruto said.

Sasuke stopped looking down before he walked away then stopped.

Naruto looked at Sasuke before he walked after him, stopping on the left side of him.

"Pitiful, isn't it?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto looked forward.

"You had the 9 Tails... and I was an Uchiha. We were mostly ostracized from the village and treated like outcasts. And we resented the village and its people. Right?" Sasuke asked.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "You called me your brother... In that sense, perhaps we were." he said.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, annoyed. "You're totally wrong! Damn it, you don't understand, do you?" he said then pushed Sasuke with his right hand on his chest then ran away.

Sasuke watched Naruto run away.

...

1 minute later.

Naruto swinging on a swing as Sasuke walked up to him and stood near him on the right side, he stopped swinging as he looked down.

"Sorry, Grandma Tsunade... I promised... I wouldn't die... until I became the Hokage..." Naruto said then he stopped looking down and stood up as he became shocked. "Oh yeah! The Infinite Tsukuyomi!" then looked at Sasuke, raising his arms midway. "This is bad! The Release Jutsu can't be activated without us being there, right?!"

Sasuke turned his head forward and closed his eyes, putting his hands on his hips. "You're dead... and you're worried about what happens to the world?" he asked.

Naruto lowered his arms. "Of course! We can't leave it like that!" he said.

Sasuke opened his eyes and looked at Naruto, taking his hands off of his hips. "Karin, Sakura, and Kakashi still remain. They'll figure something out." he said.

Naruto sat back down on the swing and looked down as he hugged himself. "I hope so." he said then he noticed his right arm was hurting and grunted in pain.

"Naruto!" Sasuke said then he turned around when he heard a drop falling then turned back around to see that Naruto was gone then looked forward. "The Hokage, huh..."

...

A 13 year old Itachi was carrying an 8 year old Sasuke on his back as he was walking.

Sasuke smiled. "Pretty soon, Niisan, they might carve Great Stone Face over there!" he said.

Itachi stopped walking, making Sasuke confused, before he disappeared.

Sasuke now sat on the ground, looking around scared and confused as he saw images of the bad memories he had over the years. "Niisan?" he asked. "Niisan... I'll be seeing you... soon."

Sasuke and Naruto's Consciousness Ends.

...

Night Time.

Sasuke suddenly opened his right eye to see the night sky.

"You've finally come to, eh?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke looked at the left side to see Naruto as he and Naruto were badly damaged as he was mostly missing his left arm and Naruto was mostly missing his right arm.

Sasuke grunted in pain and noticed his missing left arm.

"As you can see... if either of us moves too much, we'll bleed out and die." Naruto said, continuing to look up at the moon.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "Why would you go that far?" he asked then looked up at the moon. "Why do all that... just to get in my way? I gained the power to enter the darkness, and sever all bonds... And naturally, everyone's tried to cut their ties to me as well, at some point." then looked at Naruto again. "But you... You've never attempted to cut me off." then remembered something in the past. "Why do you keep involving yourself with me?"

Naruto closed his eyes, smiling. "You already know, don't you? Now that your body can't move, your mouth sure is moving a lot." he said.

"Just answer me!" Sasuke said.

Naruto opened his eyes and looked at Sasuke. "'Cuz you're my friend." he said.

Sasuke remembered 2 memories from the past. "I've heard that before. But what exactly does that mean to you anyway?" he asked.

Naruto looked forward. "You ask me to explain it, but I really can't put it into words. It's just that... when I see you take on stuff... and get all messed up... It kinda... hurts me." he said.

Sasuke became surprised.

"It hurts so much inside, that I can't just leave it alone, dattebayo?" he asked then looked at Sasuke. "Though right now, I'm in a lot of pain all over, and I can't do anything about it."

 _..._

 _Sasuke's Consciousness._

 _"Naruto... I knew you were the Jinchuriki back then. The village secretly shunned you, just like they did with me and my clan... You intentionally did stupid things to get scolded, most likely to get people's attention. In the beginning, I thought you were good for nothing. A weakling who just constantly wanted to goof around. But the more I watched you being idiotic and getting scolded over and over... For some reason, it started weighing on my mind. I thought back then, that your weakness was gradually rubbing off on me. Then, every time I'd see you, I'd think about you more and more. Seeing you desperately trying to bond with others... made me remember my older brother Itachi. And I don't know why, but I felt relief. But at the same time, I considered it a weakness. I trained hard as if to escape that weakness. In order to get revenge on my brother to become stronger than him. And yet... I ended up on the same team as you. And I began thinking about the memories with Itachi again. I went on missions with you as you jabbered on and on about becoming Hokage... I saw how both of us were getting stronger... And one day, I started to feel the desire to fight you too. And I began to see Squad 7 as a second family. That's why every time I saw you suffering... That's right... I felt it... I felt pain too. When I understood your hurt, I finally saw you as a comrade. But on the other hand... I couldn't leave you alone. You were getting stronger and stronger. Watching you steadily get stronger... I..."_ Sasuke thought then remembered something from the past. _"It was the opposite. In reality, I was the one who was jealous of you. Because you had a strength that I didn't. You were always walking in front of me. Just like my late Niisan. And... even today..."_ then he became surprised when he suddenly saw a memory of Itachi and Naruto. _"These are-! Naruto's memories."_ then started to more memories of Naruto from the past. "Naruto... How far... have you-?" then he heard Itachi's voice and quickly turned around to see another memory of Itachi and Naruto. _"Niisan..."_

A 13 year old Itachi poked an 8 year old Sasuke on the forehead with his right hand.

Sasuke placed his left hand on his forehead then lowered it when he saw an 18 year old Itachi then he turns 13 and 17 as he suddenly saw Naruto being surrounded by a lot of people and the 9 Tailed Beasts. He then saw himself in between Naruto and Karin on the left side before he became sad for a moment as he closed his eyes as he thought for a moment then opened his eyes.

"I see. Then... show me..." Sasuke said.

Sasuke's Consciousness Ends.

...

Morning.

Sasuke and Naruto looked up to see the sun rising.

Naruto grunted in pain for a moment. "Where are we? Don't tell me this really Heaven this time?" he asked, looking around.

"Looks like we fell asleep and slept until morning." Sasuke said then closed his eyes. "We've failed to die again." then opened his right eye.

Naruto grunted in pain again. "Damn it! I still can't move! I was hoping to punch you hard and make you finally open your eyes!" he said.

Sasuke closed his eyes and laughed.

Naruto looked at Sasuke confused as Sasuke laughed even more.

"W-What is it?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke stopped laughing and opened his right eye and looked at Naruto. "We're messed up like this, and you still wanna fight?" he asked.

Naruto became annoyed. "Damn right! No matter how many times it takes-!" he said but was cut off.

"I admit it." Sasuke said.

Naruto became confused again.

"I've... lost." Sasuke said.

Sasuke and Naruto stayed silent for a moment.

Naruto became annoyed. "You idiot!" he said.

Sasuke looked at Naruto with his right eye.

"This fight isn't about winning or losing! It's about punching a sulking friend, to make him snap out of it! That's what it's about! The real match that I want, comes after that, dattebayo!" Naruto said.

Sasuke looked forward. "Hey, Naruto... I just acknowledged you. If I die here, the long cycle of destiny the Sage of 6 Paths mentioned will probably end as well. This is... a kind of revolution too." he said then closed his eyes. "You can release the Infinite Tsukuyomi after I'm dead, by transplanting my left eye into Karin, Kakashi, or someone else." then opened his right eye again. "I'll put an end to myself."

"By dying? Don't think dying will settle this! If you're willing to die, then live and help me instead. What I want to do is to make all shinobi cooperate with each other. And that definitely includes you!" Naruto asked.

Sasuke looked at Naruto. "Just because you want that doesn't mean others will agree to it." he said.

"Damn it! If you keep whining and sulking, I'll slug you again!" Naruto said.

"There's no guarantee I won't stand against you again..." Sasuke said.

"Then I'll stop you again! Besides, I know you're not going to do that kinda thing anymore." Naruto said.

"How can you be so sure?" Sasuke asked.

"Don't make me repeat myself!" Naruto said.

Sasuke started to cry.

Naruto turned his head forward as he closed his eyes. "Haven't you figured it out yet?! Now that I think about it... You were always pretty stupid too..." he asked then opened his eyes and became surprised to see Sasuke crying.

Sasuke turned his head to the right side as he looked away from Naruto.

After awhile Sasuke and Naruto looked forward in silence as their dominant arms destroyed and bleeding.

...

Day Time.

Karin was jumping from tree to tree as Sakura had Kakashi's right arm over her neck and grabbing it with her right hand as she helped Kakashi through the trees.

"They're just up ahead!" Karin said, sensing Sasuke and Naruto.

As the 3 of them made it to an edge of a cliff, Karin stood up and Kakashi and Sakura crouched down as Karin looked around the completely destroyed Final Valley before she spotted Sasuke and Naruto, who were laying down on the ground as their clothes were torn a little bit more.

"Oniisan! Sasuke!" Karin said then jumped off of the cliff and ran over to Sasuke and Naruto.

When Karin stopped in between them, she became shocked and sad to see Sasuke's left arm and Naruto's right arm were mostly missing. She crouched down in between them and hovered her hands over Sasuke's left arm and Naruto's right arm before she used her Mystical Palm Technique.

Kakashi and Sakura stood up and stepped forward a little bit and looked around the area before they spotted Karin healing Sasuke and Naruto.

"There they are!" Sakura said.

"It figures they'd be here and Karin's wasting no time healing them." Kakashi said.

Kakashi and Sakura looked at each other for a moment then Sakura released Kakashi before jumped off of the edge and landed near Naruto and Karin.

Sakura moved forward a little bit to Naruto. "I'll heal Naruto." she said.

Karin hovered her hands completely over Sasuke's mostly missing left arm as Sakura hovered her hands hovered Naruto's mostly missing right arm.

Kakashi crouched down again as he watched the scene below.

Naruto smiled as Karin and Sakura healed him and Sasuke. "Thanks, Karin. Sakura-chan." he said.

"Karin... Never mind me..." Sasuke said.

"Please be quiet, Sasuke. I'm trying to think." Karin said.

Sasuke looked closely at Karin and Sakura with his right eye to see that they were making sad faces. "I'm sorry..." he said.

Karin looked at Sasuke, confused. "Huh?" she asked.

"Sorry? For what?" Sakura asked.

"For everything..." Sasuke said.

Karin sighed. "Sasuke, to me that's not necessary." she said.

Sakura closed her eyes. "You should be." she said.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Karin looked at Sakura, who was now crying.

"Really... you... Shannaro... idiot!" Sakura said.

Kakashi started to remember the forming of Team 7.

When Karin and Sakura stopped using their Mystical Palm Technique, Sasuke and Naruto sat up and smiled.

"Can you us everything that happened?" Karin asked.

Sakura opened her eyes as she wiped her tears away with her left hand.

Kakashi smiled at Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura closely before he placed his left hand on his forehead protector. "He's finally back." he said then used the forehead protector as an eye patch for his left eye.

Sasuke looked at Naruto as he stopped smiling. _"Naruto... I've been thinking about what you once said to me. When we were together, you wondered if it was how having a brother would feel... Now, finally... I think I know what you meant."_ he thought.

...

5 minutes later.

Kakashi, Karin, and Sakura stood near as they watched Sasuke and Naruto.

Sasuke's right hand and Naruto's left hand were together as they made the Rat hand sign as they were releasing everyone from under the Infinite Tsukuyomi and Sasuke released his 9 Planetary Devastation Cores and put them on the ground before the 9 Tailed Beasts were freed.

 _"I felt how my brother Itachi and the other half of the Uchiha clan suffered. In the same way... Naruto..."_ Sasuke thought.

Sasuke and Naruto released each other as they lowered their hands.

 _"I'm sure I will start to feel your pain and your emotions... You never cut me off. You always kept me in your thoughts. You'd have been justified if you'd come at me with hatred... Instead, you always called me your friend. And I tried to betray even those feelings..."_ Sasuke thought.

...

2 days later.

Sunset.

Konohagakure.

Cemetery.

The Konoha people were dressed in black as they silently mourned their now buried family and friends.

Karin, who was wearing a long sleeved high collared black shirt, long black pants, and black sandals, secretly watched from the forest then saw from left to right, Hinata and Naruto. She saw that they were sad and crying before she turned away as she made a sad face.

...

24 days ago.

Day Time.

Uzumaki Clan compound.

Karin, in her usual outfit, was quietly sitting down on the couch as she sadly looked at the table, thinking about what happened more than 3 weeks ago.

 _..._

 _Flashback._

 _24 days ago._

 _War Grounds._

 _From left to right, Kakashi, Sakura, Naruto, Sasuke, and Karin were walking together until they suddenly saw Minato and Kushina, in their usual outfits, were standing a few meters away from them with 2 Konoha male ninjas,_ _Izumo_ _and_ _Kotetsu, in their usual outfits,_ _standing next to them._

 _Sasuke, Naruto, Karin, and Sakura became confused._

 _"What's going on?" Karin asked._

 _"Sasuke, despite you helping end the war you still have to be taken in." Minato said._

 _Karin grabbed Sasuke's right arm with both hands, sadly. "No. Please don't do this, Uncle Minato." she said._

 _"I'm so sorry, Karin." Kushina said._

 _Sasuke looked at Karin. "It's okay, Karin." he said._

 _Karin looked up at Sasuke._

 _"I'll be alright." Sasuke said._

 _Karin reluctantly released her grip on Sasuke's right arm before_ _Izumo_ _and_ _Kotetsu_ _went on either side of him. She watched as Sasuke walked away with_ _Izumo_ _and_ _Kotetsu_ _then she stepped forward to go after them but she felt a hand on her left shoulder and she looked to see Naruto had his left hand on her._

 _Naruto shook his head and stopped. "No, Karin." he said, releasing his left hand._

 _Karin looked at Sasuke again, sadly. "Sasuke..." she thought._

 _Flashback Ends._

 _..._

During the whole time that Sasuke had been arrested, Karin never visited him because she had to think about the things they did as Team Taka. She felt out of place in her own home since she came back. She heard that Fugaku and Mikoto have been visiting Sasuke almost every day.

Karin sighed for a moment, closing her eyes. "What am I gonna now?" she asked herself.

Karin's thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she heard a few taps, she opened her eyes and looked to the left side at the window to see a brown bird outside of it.

"What? Someone's sending me a message? Karin questioned.

Karin stood up from the couch and walked over to the window and slid it opened with her left hand and took a beige scroll from it's red pouch and unwrapped the scroll with both hands before she started to read it.

 _"Dear Karin, please come to the Hokage's Office tomorrow in the afternoon. We need to talk."_

 _From, Minato and Kushina._

Karin looked at the opened scroll for a moment. _"Why now do they wanna talk?"_ she thought, wrapping the scroll back up with both hands and held it with her left hand.

...

Tomorrow.

Day Time.

Hokage Mansion.

Karin was walking through one of the hallways to get to the Office to see her Uncle Minato and Aunt Kushina, who summoned her by bird to talk to her. As she was almost to the Office she suddenly stopped walking when she sensed 5 familiar chakras.

 _"Why are they here as well?"_ Karin thought.

Karin continued to walk over to the Hokage Office then she turned the door knob with her right hand before she opened it and entered in, closing it behind her.

"Karin." a male voice said.

Karin looked forward to see from left to right, Minato, now 41 years old, Kushina, now 41 years old, Naruto, now 17 years old and in a hospital outfit, a long sleeved beige shirt and long beige, Mikoto, now 44 years old, and Fugaku, now 49 years old, in their usual outfits, were standing a few feet away from her, concerned.

"So, um what is it that you want to talk about?" Karin asked.

"Karin... We need to talk to you about something important. Please sit down." Kushina said sadly.

Karin walked forward and sat down in the wooden light brown chair then she put her hands together on her lap and looked down at the floor. "What's important?" she asked.

"First, we want you 2 tell us what you and Sasuke have done since you 2 left the village?" Minato asked.

Karin quickly looked up at Fugaku, Minato, Kushina, Mikoto, and Naruto. "Everything happened so suddenly, I had no idea of those events." she said.

"You don't have tell us right away, take your time." Fugaku said.

Karin sighed for a moment then looked down. "It all started less than 2 years ago when I traveled somewhere to learn more knowledge. I stayed there for the course of 6 months when Sasuke suddenly showed up with Suigetsu Hōzuki, a shinobi from the Village Hidden in the Mist that for some reason wanted to collect be one of the 7 Ninja Swordsmen. Sasuke said that he was forming a team to hunt and kill Itachi and he needed my help." she said.

Everyone became interested.

"At first I wanted to refuse because he went rogue but then I thought about what Itachi did to half of the Uzumaki clan and half of the Uchiha and nearly killing me, so I joined. After that the 3 of us went to get Jūgo, a man who can absorb natural energy from surroundings and has the urge to kill sometimes. It took awhile but Sasuke was able to recruit him due to calming him down. At that point we were called Hebi. After traveling for awhile, we went to Sora-ku to stock up on supplies. We then went to a nearby town then we split up to search for leads but barely anything came up. While me, Jugo, and Suigetsu were trying to gather information Sasuke was fighting Deidara, an Akatsuki member. Deidara ended up commiting suicide trying to kill Sasuke but he was unsuccessful at it as Sasuke summoned Manda and hid inside him, who later died from the injuries. All of us regrouped afterwards and took him to an inn to recover. After awhile Sasuke was still recovering and I went out to get supplies, I suddenly sensed Oniisan and the others chakras approaching our location so I warned Sasuke and we immediately left the inn and I used Sasuke's old clothing as a means to distract you guys from catching us. Sasuke took us to one of the nearby Akatsuki bases that Jūgo learned about. He went in by himself and found Itachi's clone waiting for him. After a brief confrontation, he lead us towards the Uchiha Hideout where he is waiting, Kisame, stopped us and allow only Sasuke to proceed. After a long while of waiting, Shortly after Zetsu came and stopped Kisame and Suigetsu from fighting then he notified us that Sasuke had won and told us where he was resting. Our mission was finally complete."

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"If you're mission was complete, then why didn't you leave?" Naruto asked.

"I was but Sasuke said that Obito told him about himself, how Konohagakure was founded, how Itachi died, the history and the mistreatment of the Uchiha clan, the war between the Uchiha clan and the Senju clan, the Uzumaki clan's mistreatment, how Itachi received an assignment to kill half of the Uchiha clan and the Uzumaki clan by the Hidden Leaf elders, Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, and Roots leader, Danzō, and how it could start the Fourth Great Ninja War. At first, I didn't believe it but I started to think about all the times her you guys, and our Uchiha clan and Uzumaki clan were acting suspicious. And I easily sensed that Obito was that unknown chakra from that night." Karin said.

Fugaku, Minato, Mikoto, and Kushina made sad faces before they looked down. Naruto looked at them before he looked back at Karin.

"We were renamed Taka and Sasuke said that our new mission was to kill the elders and that others are of no concern to him but I can tell that he was lying." Karin said.

Fugaku, Minato, Mikoto, and Kushina looked at Karin again.

"Obito then proposed to us that we should work together to find the tailed beasts in order to achieve our goals. He asked us to join the Akatsuki since they are low on manpower and tasked us with capturing the Eight-Tails while the Akatsuki capture Oniisan, as he was the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails. After arriving at the valley, we find ourselves face-to-face with an annoying rapper named Killer B, who is the jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails. After a long and exhausting battle, we were able to capture him. At that moment, I noticed that something was wrong with Sasuke when he accidentally knocked over his glass of water, but as he brushed it off saying it was nothing but I knew he was lying. I immediately detected an enemy outside our base and noticed we must have been followed, Sasuke and Jūgo went to investigate it and they came back with an Kumogakure ninja. We abandoned the hideout as we know that more would come soon. When we were done recovering in our other hideout, we headed to Konoha. But before we can we get there Obito suddenly arrived and explained that we blundered in our attempt to catch the Eight-Tails and thus must make amends. Zetsu appeared and notified us that Danzō has been made Hokage, but I angry and annoyed by this, since Danzō was one of Konoha's elders who forced Itachi to do those horrible acts. Obito revealed that Konoha had been destroyed by Pain while Zetsu notifies us that a Five Kage Summit has been called. Zetsu notified all of us that it was Oniisan who defeated Pain, citing that Naruto may be stronger than your father now. Sasuke told us that our new objective is to head to the Five Kage Summit to kill Danzō." Karin said.

White Zetsu lead us to the summit's location while Black Zetsu stayed back with Obito. It was really weird to see that. Once we made it Zetsu identified what Danzo looked like. We stayed there for awhile until Sasuke silently told us to head out we slipped by the samurai guards and I noticed that Zetsu wasn't following us anymore. After a few minutes I sensed that the guards were looking for us thanks to Zetsu. Me, Jugo, and Suigetsu hid while Sasuke decided to fight first. Before he started battling I was able to sense the change in his chakra, I stated it was more ominous than the second stage of his cursed seal and it was colder. Sasuke was fighting against the samurai soldiers, easily killing them. I had no idea he was going to do something like that. Moments later I suddenly sensed the Fourth Raikage, C, and Darui coming our way, the crashed through the ceiling before they joined the battle then Gaara, Kankuro, and Temari joined later. They tried to eliminate Sasuke with their attacks. However, all four of their attacks were blocked by his Susano'o. He started to destroy the pillars, causing the roof to collapse. He saved me and himself using my Susano'o. I informed him that Jūgo and Suigetsu are still alive, but he told me to leave them and had me lead him to Danzō. I lead Sasuke to the room where Danzo is but shortly a samurai fought with him and Danzo escaped. Me and Sasuke were about to follow him but we were blocked when the Fifth Mizukage used her Lava Release. Sasuke battled them for awhile then Obito and asked them if they would like to hear about his Project "Tsuki no Me". I didn't hear what he was planning because he teleported me and Sasuke into an unknown realm so I could heal him. When I was done healing him and he woke up before Obito returned and released us in front of Danzō so that Sasuke could fight him on a bridge. Danzō removed the bandages on his right arm, revealing numerous Sharingan implants, and states that he is about to add Sasuke and Obito's eyes to his collection." Karin said.

Everyone became surprised.

"He had multiple Sharingans in his right arm?!" Fugaku asked.

"How can that be?" Mikoto asked.

"Yes. Shortly after, Danzo and Sasuke talked for a moment before they battle. During this Danzo was Using the Izanagi to try to defeat Sasuke." Karin said.

"The Izanagi?!" Fugaku and Mikoto asked, surprised.

"Sasuke pierced Danzo in the chest before he proceeded to hop across the Samurai Bridge, desperate to survive, then Obito and Sasuke and notified him that he would be taking Shisui's eye. He suddenly decided to take 'Madara' and I with him to the afterlife for what he perceived as the welfare of Konoha. Danzo used his Reverse Four Symbols Sealing technique, he unleashed a black sphere with the objective of drawing and sealing both Sasuke and Obito's soul into his body; however, they managed to get out of the sphere's radius. I sensed that Sasuke was slipping rapidly into the darkness. When Obito left, Sakura suddenly came and declared that she has deserted Konoha and wishes to join him. I knew that she was lying so he told her that his goal is to destroy Konoha and that if she still wished to join him she must show me all of her supplies. When Sakura went to do that, Sasuke activated his Chidori and and prepared to kill her from behind, only for the attack to be blocked by Kakashi. Sasuke and Kakashi batled for awhile as I with Sakura. I suddenly sensed Sasuke's chakra dropping despite me healing him earlier. Sakura went to kill Sasuke and he suddenly sensed her was behind him and holding a kunai to his back. He turned around and grabbed her throat with one hand while he pried the kunai out with the other. He attempted to kill Sakura, only for Oniisan to suddenly arrive and whisk Sakura him from killing her. Everyone talked for awhile and battled before Obito and the Zetsus came and took Sasuke and I with him. At the hideout, Sasuke asked Obito to give him Itachi's Mangekyō Sharingan transplanted within his own, as he was beginning to lose his vision after having activated his Susanoo. After Obito and I were done transplanting Itachi's eyes into Sasuke, he advised that he rest until he get used to them. Days past and Sasuke grew tired and he removed the bandages anyway, killing White Zetsu with his Susanoo in order to test his new powers. We left the Mountains' Graveyard and wandered through two towns, but found both were strangely empty. When members of the White Zetsu Army come after us, he asked what's currently happening in the world. The Zetsus avoid answering and try to capture us. Sasuke destroyed most of them with Amaterasu and interrogated one other with his genjutsu. The Zetsu revealed that Obito has initiated the Fourth Shinobi World War in order to capture Killer B and Naruto. He decapitated that last Zetsu and then we went looking for Oniisan ourselves, he intended to make good on my promise to kill him. We saw Itachi going in the opposite direction. We were shocked and we went after him, Sasuke desperately wanted to talk to him. Because he has business elsewhere, Itachi didn't stop to talk, but he did field some of his questions: he had been brought back with the Impure World Reincarnation. As we approached his destination, Itachi told us to remain outside. We ignored him and followed him into the cave where the user of the Impure World Reincarnation was hiding. We initially believed that the user was Orochimaru, but on closer inspection we recognized him as Kabuto. We were confused at the situation, we demanded answers and Kabuto gives us the goal behind the war: by capturing Oniisan and B, and using all nine tailed beasts, Obito planne to resurrect the Ten-Tails, become its jinchūriki, and cast the Infinite Tsukuyomi on the world. I've also learned that Sasuke had been promised as a compensation for Kabuto by Obito in exchange for his cooperation. We disapproved of Obito and Kabuto's war against the nations, angry for being used and manipulated all along. Because Itachi's mission was to stop Kabuto so as to end the Impure World Reincarnation, Sasuke tried to end things quickly by simply killing him. But Itachi blocked his attack, he explained that the Impure World Reincarnation will not be ended if Kabuto dies and that our only option was to trap him in a genjutsu. We battled Kabuto for awhile before Itachi placed the Izanami on him, causing him to be in a loop." Karin said.

"You know about the Izanami?" Fugaku asked.

"Hai and Itachi explained the reasons why Izanagi and Izanami were forbidden even among the Uchiha clan before he instructed Kabuto to end the Impure World Reincarnation. After Itachi left to the afterlife, Jugo and Suigetsu found us. Suigetsu gave Sasuke a scroll before he revived Orochimaru. And you guys know the rest from Uncle Minato." Karin said.

Everyone continue to stare at Karin sadly as they were thinking about what Karin told them about the events she and Sasuke did in the past.

"Sasuke really... did all of those things..?" Mikoto questioned.

"But why wasn't I sent to prison like Sasuke was?" Karin asked.

"Because you didn't kill anyone." Minato said.

"Yeah but I helped Sasuke commit those acts. My parents would've been disapointed in me." Karin said.

"This isn't your fault you had no idea Sasuke going to do all of that, dattebayo." Naruto said.

Everyone stayed silent for a moment.

"Sorry Karin, we should've told you a long time ago about your mother and father's deaths." Kushina said.

Karin quickly looked up, surprised. "How?" she asked.

Minato sighed sadly as he looked down for a moment then his head risen and opened his eyes. "We were in enemy territory and battling them for weeks." he said. "We were told that they wanted to sign a peace treaty with us... but that was a lie to just kill us."

Karin continued to listen.

"On the last day of the battle, we were winning the fight even in the beginning but then they unleashed a certain jutsu on us." Minato said.

"What certain jutsu?" Karin asked.

"It was an unknown jutsu but I did see them make the hand signs of it. We're still searching scrolls of it. But more importantly, your saved us all from the jutsu at the cost of his own life." Minato said sadly.

More tears welled up in Karin's face when Minato finished telling her about her father's death.

"The last words your father told me to tell your mother is that 'I love you Uzume, take good care of our daughter and the clan. Karin needs you more than ever in her life now'." Minato said.

Karin still cried at what Minato said, she looked down closing her eyes. "Dad..." she thought, opening her eyes.

"Then your mother died from the Tasu Visu." Kushina said.

Karin opened her eyes and looked at Kushina. "A Tasu Virus?" she questioned.

"Yes, it was a deadly virus that killed many of our clan members and other people there, dattebane." Kushina said. "But it disappeared decades ago. She tested her blood, which was confirmed, and showed many signs of it as well."

Karin continued to stare at Kushina.

"The longest time anyone has ever lived with the Tasu virus was 10 months and she had it for awhile." Kushina said.

"But... why didn't you guys tell me sooner?" Karin asked.

"Because you were still too young to know. After all of the stuff you seen in life as a child, we didn't want you to be broken like that again." Kushina said. "Your mother and father would never be ashamed of you."

Karin looked down at the ground then wiped her eyes with her left arm and lowered it and looked at everyone. "In a few days, I'm leaving the village." she said.

"What?!" Everyone asked.

"I feel out of place. I don't feel comfortable here like I was in the past. I need to explore and clear my mind." Karin said.

"Do you know when you'll be back?" Naruto asked.

"I'm not for sure." Karin said then looked at Minato. "Uncle Minato."

"Yes?" Minato asked.

"Before I go, can you do me a favor?" Karin asked.

...

Tomorrow.

Day Time.

Konoha Cells.

Minato and Karin were standing outside of Sasuke's cell room. Karin sensed 3 chakras inside and the 2 chakras were familiar.

Minato looked at the right side at Karin. "Karin, are you sure about this?" he asked.

"Yes, I know to do this." Karin said.

Minato looked forward. "Alright." he said then opened the door with his right hand before he and Karin stepped inside.

Minato and Karin looked to see if Ibiki, in his usual outfit, a fair skinned man that looked to be in his early 30s, brown hair, black eyes, and in the interrogation outfit, were sitting at a wooden brown table. Karin looked at the right side to see Sasuke wrapped up in scraps and cloth and his eyes were covered up in a dark brown seal as he was sitting on the right side of the bed.

Ibiki and the unknown man stood up and bowed to Minato. "Sir." they said.

"Please open the cell for awhile." Minato said.

"Hai." Ibiki said then walked over to Sasuke's cell and pulled out a key ring with lots of keys on it with his right hand and unlocked Sasuke's cell door and opened it.

"Everyone leave." Minato said.

Ibiki and the unknown man walked past Minato and Karin then out the door.

Karin walked inside of Sasuke's cell and sat down on the bed on the left side of Sasuke.

Minato looked down at Katin. "You have 10 minutes." he said.

Karin only nodded silently.

Minato turned around and walked out of the room before he closed the door behind him with his right hand, leaving Sasuke and Karin alone.

Karin looked at Sasuke to see that he had his head turned to her. "S-sasuke." she said.

"Karin." Sasuke said.

Karin continued to look at Sasuke before she looked down at the floor.

Sasuke and Karin became silent for awhile.

"What are you doing here?" Sasuke asked.

Karin slowly looked at Sasuke again. "Well... I wanted to tell you that I'll be leaving the village soon again." she said then sighed. "And that's not all..." then looked down at the floor again. "I-I think we should take a break from each other."

Sasuke suddenly became sad as he felt like his heart breaking. "But why would you want that to happen?" he asked. "I thought everything was great between us?"

"Sasuke... everything was great in the beginning but... when I left the village again, you went rogue and later you formed a team. During that time, we barely act like a couple and we didn't go on dates. Your chakra had turned dark and cold and it felt like I didn't know you anymore. You cared more about revenge than being in a relationship when we were rogue. We need to time to be separate." Karin said.

Sasuke's head looked down. "Are you sure?" he asked.

"Hai, we need to be apart." Karin said.

"I understand if that's what you want." Sasuke said.

Karin scooted a little bit more to Sasuke before she closed her eyes then leaned before she kissed Sasuke on the left side of his face before she leaned back. "Goodbye, Sasuke." she said then stood up and slowly walked out of the cell and to the door. She suddenly stopped in front of it and looked at Sasuke one last time before she opened the door with her left hand and went out then closed it behind herself.

...

3 Days Later.

Day Time.

Konoha streets.

Karin, who now had her grey pouch wrapped around her waist, was walking through the streets of Konoha to get to the Gate to leave. She visited her parents gravesites and said goodbye to Minato, Kushina, and Naruto.

As Karin continued to walk to the Gate, she suddenly sensed a familiar chakra near her.

"Karin." a familiar female voice said.

Karin turned her head to the right side to see Sakura, her hair now at a mid-back length and in her temporary outfit, a sleeveless red qipao, her red Konoha forehead protector as a handband, grey shorts, grey apron, and grey boot like sandals that almost reached her knees, was walking towards her.

"Sakura?" Karin questioned.

When Sakura made it to Karin, she started to walk with her.

"I heard that you are leaving?" Sakura asked.

Karin looked forward. "Yeah. I need to get away from everything for awhile." she said. "Being here right now feels wrong to me."

"But when are you going to return?" Sakura asked.

"I'm not sure. It could be months or years." Karin said.

"At least have you said goodbye to everyone you care about?" Sakura asked.

"Yes." Karin said.

"Even Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

Karin suddenly became sad on the inside. "Yes." she said.

Sakura looked forward, smiling. "I heard from Tsunade-sama that she's making Sasuke-kun and Naruto new arms and she's going to fuse their cells with harvest ones from the First Hokage." she said.

Karin looked down as she became sad. _"Tsunade's really making Oniisan and Sasuke new arms."_ she thought.

Sakura looked at Karin and stopped smiling when she saw Karin looking down sad. "What's wrong, Karin?" she said.

Karin stopped being sad as she looked at Sakura. "What?" she asked.

"Is something wrong?" Sakura asked.

"Oh nothing." Karin said, looking forward.

"I know you're lying. You can tell me." Sakura said.

Karin thought about it for a moment before she sighed. "It's about Sasuke." she said.

"Huh? What about Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

"Well... me and Sasuke broke up..." Karin said.

Sakura was relieved and confused when Karin said that. "But why did you 2 break up? I thought you 2 were working things out?" she asked.

"A few days ago, I went to visit Sasuke and I told him we need time apart from each other. After all the things that happened, I need some time to myself." Karin said.

"I see." Sakura said then looked forward. _"Alright! That means Sasuke-kun's available! Shannaro!"_ she thought.

"Goodbye, Sakura. I'll see you someday." Karin said, looking at Sakura.

"Okay, you too." Sakura said then walked away on the right side into the crowd of people.

Karin watched Sakura walk away before she looked forward to see the Konoha Gate a few meters away.

As Karin reached the Gate, she noticed Kotetsu and Izumo, were in front of it.

"Halt." Izumo said.

Karin stopped a few feet away from them.

"State your business." Izumo said.

"I'm going to leave." Karin said.

"You may pass through." Izumo said.

It took awhile before she made it to the gate and outside then looked up at it one last time before she looked forward and walked away from the Konoha.

 _"Goodbye, Konoha."_ Karin thought.

...

5 Days Later.

Forest.

Night Time.

Karin sat down on a log with her pouch laying on the left side of it as she stared down at the fire that was standing a few feet away from her.

Karin sighed as she placed both of her hands on the log. _"I wonder what everyone's doing right now since I left?"_ she thought.

Karin started to remember her mother and father's deaths again.

 _..._

 _Flashbacks._

 _11 and 1/2 years ago._

 _DayTime._

 _Karin, 5 years old and in her usual outfit, saw a couple of Uzumakis and Uchihas behind them had their clothes tattered but not like her uncle and Fugaku, in their usual outfit, which were worse. She saw that they all had sad faces as they were walking past the gates._

 _"What happened?!" one of the Uzumaki guards at the gates asked sadly._

 _Her mother, her Aunt Kushina, in her usual outfit, and a few Uzumaki clan people came running past her as they ran to the gates. She saw them talking to her uncle and Fugaku but couldn't hear what they were say because she was far away._

 _Karin slowly walked towards them wanting to know what they are talking about._

 _"That can't be please tell me it's not him." Uzume said, tears running down her face._

 _"I'm so sorry, Uzume." Minato said sadly, looking down. "I really wish it was."_

 _"This is really tragic." Fugaku said, sadly._

 _Kushina made a sad face as she put her hands on her older sister's shoulders. "I'm so sorry this happened."_

 _Karin saw them stop talking as they all looked at her sad when she stopped near them._

 _"Uncle Minato, where's Daddy?" Karin asked, looking at him. "I don't sense his chakra anywhere."_

 _They all looked down, unable to tell her._

 _"Did he use the chakra suppression technique to surprise me?" Karin asked. "Why is everyone sad?"_

 _Her mother, in her usual outfit, cried a little more at the questions she was asking then she watched her walked up to her and kneeled to her level._

 _Her mother hands on her shoulders. "Um, sweetie... I'm afraid... your father is... no longer with us." she said sadly.  
_

 _"What do you mean, Mommy?" Karin asked. "He wasn't with us for a few weeks."_

 _"No, your father is... gone." her mother said, before more tears started running down her face._

 _"Gone?" Karin said, her face now turning sad. "He said he'll be back."_

 _"Well, sweetie..." her mother was thinking._

 _Karin saw to the left of the corner of her eye to someone laying on the ground and was covered by a white and cloth. She noticed her father's shoes, clothes, and hair._

 _"Daddy!" Karin said sadly as ran over it._

 _"Karin, please don't look." her mother said, reaching out to her but Karin still ran._

 _Karin made it to it and was immediately horrified at what she saw. This person was her father's but she sensed no chakra in him. She saw many scars on his body. She kneeled down in front of him and put her hands on the chest of her father._

 _"Daddy... Daddy, please get up..." Karin said sadly._

 _But their was no response._

 _"Daddy, please get up please..." Karin said again, shaking, tears now forming in her eyes. "Daddy." but still no response._

 _Tears rapidly ran down Karin's face as she put her face on his chest. "Daddy is... dead!"_

 _"Sweetie." a voice said._

 _Karin opened her eyes and turned around to see her mother walking towards her._

 _"I'm so sorry about this sweetie." her mother said sadly._

 _Karin looked at everyone to see that they still had sad faces then got up before backing away from her mother._

 _"Daddy is... really dead." Karin whispered, still crying. "He promised... he would be back."_

 _"Sweetie..." her mother said._

 _"Father... lied to me..." Karin said before running off to the house crying._

 _..._

 _Karin, 8 years old and in her old usual outfit, looked up at her mother at her mother. "Um, Mommy." she said._

 _Uzume looked down at her slowly. "Yes... sweetie?" she asked weakly._

 _"Will you be better soon, right?" Karin asked._

 _Uzume saw the worry in her daughter's eyes about her but she still couldn't tell her. "I-I don't know sweetie but you know something." she said._

 _"What is it?" Karin asked curiously._

 _Uzume pulled her closely into a hug. "I will always... love you... no matter what... Karin." she said smiling. "Be a... good girl... and always... follow your dreams... okay..."_

 _Karin hugged her mother back. "Okay and I will always love you too, Mommy." she said. "But why are you saying that?"_

 _Uzume didn't say anything instead she just kissed her daughter's forehead._

 _Flashback ends._

 _..._

 _"I finally received the answers that I want but I still feel sad."_ Karin thought then she suddenly perked up in surprise as she remembered something. "Wait! What were written in those scrolls my parents wrote to them?!" she asked.

3 Days Later.

Day Time.

Forest.

Karin was running back to Konoha to answer Fugaku and Mikoto about the scrolls. As she continued to run, Karin suddenly sensed 3 familiar chakras up ahead and awhile later she stopped running and secretly watched behind a tree to see from left to right, Kakashi and Sakura facing Sasuke, who was in his temporary outfit, a long sleeved black shirt, long black pants, a black cloak, and long black sandals, near the Konoha Gate.

 _"Sasuke? What's he doing outside?"_ Karin thought.

Kakashi put his hands in his pockets. "I'll be blunt. By rights, you should be in prison right now. But we have heard your plea and all your actions up to now have been pardoned. Breaking the jutsu for the Infinite Tsukuyomi played a big part in the decision. As well as the fact that Minato-Sensei happens to be the 4th Hokage, and that Naruto, the key figure in ending the war, testified on your behalf. Don't forget that." he said.

Sakura made a concerned look.

"And please don't get too reckless. Otherwise, he'll be held responsible." Kakashi said.

"Understood. Thank you." Sasuke said.

"So, Sasuke's pardoned from all of the crimes he committed." Karin thought.

"Must you go? The artificial arm that Tsunade-sama is creating from Hashirama's cells will soon..." Sakura asked.

"I need time to understand my feelings. How I should view the shinobi world, this world. Perhaps I'll be able to see things I couldn't see before. Things that can't be seen unless I do this. Also, there's something I'm worried about." Sasuke said.

Sakura gasped and blushed, looking down. "What if I said... I'd go with you?" she asked, looking around for a moment then looked at Sasuke.

Sasuke closed his eyes. "This is a trip to atone for my sins. My sins have nothing to do with you." he said.

Sakura stopped blushing and became shocked before she looked down.

Kakashi looked at Sakura.

Sakura closed her eyes. "Nothing to do with me...?" she asked then opened her eyes halfway.

Sasuke opened his eyes and smiled then walked over to Sakura and raised up his right index and middle fingers before he poked Sakura's forehead, making her surprised. "Maybe next time. Thank you." he said.

Sakura blushed.

Karin became surprised as she suddenly started to cry. She slowly backed away then turned around before she ran away. _"I can't believe. I know me and Sasuke are no longer dating... but we just stopped recently and he quickly moved onto Sakura."_ she thought.

Sasuke stopped smiling as he lowered his right arm. "However, I don't have feelings for you that way." he said.

Sakura stopped blushing as she made a sad face. "Really?" she asked.

"I only think of you as a friend. I have feelings for only one person and that's Karin. I'm sorry, Sakura." Sasuke said.

Sakura looked down at the ground sadly.

Sasuke turned around and walked away from Konoha as Kakashi and Sakura watched from afar. After Sasuke walked for awhile, he suddenly stopped and looked at the left side to see Naruto, in his temporary outfit, a long sleeved zipped up white shirt that had a high orange collar, his long black Konoha forehead protector, long black pants, and black sandals, leaning against a tree.

"I didn't think you'd come to see me off." Sasuke said.

Naruto stopped leaning against the tree and held up his left as he held a scratched blue clothed forehead protector. "Here." he said.

Sasuke looked down at the forehead protector then looked at Naruto again. "You kept that thing?" he asked. _"You sacrificed your arm to stop me. Thanks to you, I found salvation. Once, all we did was clash with each other. But now, we share each other's pain."_ he thought then stepped closer to Naruto then stopped.

Naruto smiled.

 _"After all my travels through the world, I came to the conclusion that this sharing of pain can perhaps be applied to something much bigger than just us. But I can't do things like you. Things don't go that smoothly, as you and I know more than anyone... The bigger something is, the harder."_ Sasuke thought.

"I'm returning this." Naruto said.

"I'll hang on to it..." Sasuke said then held out his right hand. "... until our real match."

Sasuke and Naruto stood in silence.

 _"This idea is almost a prayer. To keep enduring, no matter what, until things come to pass. And for we who must endure, perhaps that's what it means... to be a ninja."_ Sasuke thought then grabbed his old forehead protector.

* * *

End of Chapter 18.

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